Обсуждение:География

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Events, incidents, occasions or times


Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān

География (12 059 слов)
Статья Содержание
Общий обзор: география Корана
Мекка: общая
Рыночные сети Мекки
Yathrib / al-Madīna
География в Коране: языческий фон географического представительства qur'ānic
Понятие пространства в доисламской поэзии
Ответы: qur'ānic канонический процесс, отраженный в перекодировании языческих понятий пространства
Эстетически приятное пространство, символически значимое пространство: де-мифизация языческого …
Копию растительности как божественный дар
Городское общественное пространство как форум значимого социального взаимодействия
Восстановление смысла пустынного пространства: умма халиа; реконструкция космоса с точки зрения …
Изгнание и восстановление знакомого пейзажа: «библификация» языческого пространства
Мекка как аналог библейских мест откровения: святая земля и Иерусалим
Библейские сайты заменены: появление Мекки в качестве второго Иерусалима
Оставив отдаленную воображаемую родину — восстановление полуострова
Библиография

Эта запись начинается с краткого общего обзора географии Корана, т. Е. Географического положения генезиса текста. Затем он переходит к обзору географических представлений в Коране. Как правильно указал Кеннет Крэгг (Мероприятие), события, кото-рые являются ключевыми в Коране, расположены в пространстве, образованном языческими понятиями (см. ). Таким образом, география в Коране построена против предкуристских бедуинов взглядов на пространство, передаваемых в древнеарабской поэзии (см. ). Чтобы сделать этот фон более понятным, эти предкуранские концепции должны быть представлены, по крайней мере, кратко. Впоследствии их демифицизация и повторное кодирование в городском контексте qur'ānic будут изучены. С этой целью будут собраны свидетельства о развитии «ментальной карты» слушателей, их изменение восприятия «локальной географии» и их приобретение нового понимания физических географических явлений. Разумеется, пространственная самоориентация не обязательно связана с «реальным» объективным пространством, знакомым на собственном опыте; это может указывать на воображаемое пространство. И реальный дом слушателей, с одной стороны, и воображаемый дом сообщества, т. Е. Пространство их духовного стремления после реального дома превратилось в изгнание (см. ), с другой стороны, нужно уделять внимание, поскольку изменение значимость конкретных мест и ландшафтов способна сделать прозрачный канонический процесс.

Общий обзор // география Корана

Более широкие географические рамки Корана — это Аравийский полуостров. Определённая историко-географическая карта всего полуострова была подготовлена ​​в рамках Tübinger Atlas zum Vorderen Orient (TAVO) Ульриха Ребсток: Исламская Аравия до смер-ти Пророка. "Эта карта представляет собой топографическую обстановку ядра исламской империи, возникшего на периферии сасанидской и византийской империй. Он пытается воссоздать процесс расширения «ислама», т. Е. «Суб-миссии», в свою пользу, на основе ранней исламской географии и историографии. Идентификация и локализация важных мест служит своеобразной структурой, в которой установлены социальные, экономические и религиозные события. Основное внимание уделяется полити-ческим и военным действиям, с которыми «мусульмане», действуя сначала из Медины, а затем из Мекки, пытались сломить оппозицию городской и племенной арабской аристократии. Тонкодифференцированные контракты «мусульман» с членами других религиозных общин, с традиционными племенными конфедерациями и племенами, объединенными с другими державами, дают представление о неустойчивом положении исламской общины после смерти их Пророка "(Rebstock, Islamic Аравия, см. )

Точнее, однако, Ḥijāz следует считать землей происхождения Корана. Ḥijāz определяется как горный барьер, который проходит через западную сторону полуострова. Хотя точное применение топографических концепций может быть проблематичным, его можно примерно охарактеризовать как граничащее с сирийскими провинциями на севере, а на юго-западе — нагорье «Азир», отделяющее его от Йемена. Красное море низменности Тихама расположено на западе. На востоке Ḥijāz сливается с плато Наджд, возвышенная земля над прибрежной равниной, которая в основном степная и пустынная. Осадки в Ḥijāz очень скудны, и вода сохраняется только в нескольких районах глинистой почвы, что позволяет сельским культурам появляться. В Коране аль-Шафиф и Йасриб входят в число самых выдающихся из этих сельских культур. Через Ḥijāz проходило несколько торговых маршрутов; главный маршрут между севером и югом, который соединял район с византийской провинцией Сирия, проходил параллельно с Красным морем, проезжая через цепь оазисов, таких как аль-Мудавара, Табук, аль-Ала и Йасриб. Хотя Ḥijāz не был непосредственно на море, мореплавание Эфиопии (Bilād al-Ḥabash, см. Abyssinia), которое было коммерческим партнером доисламской Мекки и которое во время карьеры Мухаммеда стало временным убежищем для группы его последователей, был легко доступен через порты Красного моря в Шуайе или Джидде. Гораздо труднее было путешествовать и перемещаться на восток через Шарру (базальтовая пустыня, покрытая камнями из потока лавы), где дороги проходили через одну из двух главных долин (вади) Неджда, Вади-Давасира или Вади -Румма, которая проходит через плато до входа в равнину Евфрата в Бахра (см. ).

Мекка (общая)

Среди городов полуострова Мекка, безусловно, является исключительным случаем. Он не обязан своей важностью вассальным отношениям с могущественной властью, как и аль-Шира, расположенная на границе сасанидской территории, и не является городом сельского оазиса, таким как соседний аль-Шафиф или более далекая Медина. Расположенный в Ḥijāz примерно в семидесяти двух километрах от Красного моря в 21 ° 27 'северной широты и 39 ° 49' восточной долготы, Мекка — это бесплодное место, расположенное в долине, известной как вади или бань Макка, в окружении крутой скалистой горы диапазоны. Ряд боковых долин, известных как ши’б, сходятся в самой нижней его части — Баша, где началось поселение и где находится Кааба (q.v.). Ближайший соседний город Мекки на расстоянии примерно пятидесяти километров к востоку был сельским оазисом аль-Шайф, местом, которое, похоже, тесно связано с Меккой, поскольку, согласно экзегетической традиции, q 43:31 относится к обоим с совместным эпонимом аль-кариатани. Следующий важный город — Ятриб, в 350 километрах к северу от Мекки. Осадки в регионе Мекки скудны и нерегулярны. Когда это происходит вообще, дожди могут быть жестокими и вызывать потоки, которые льют долины к шарам. Подача воды (q.v.) зависела от колодцев и цистерн (см. Колодцы и источники, источники и фонтаны).

Святилище Мекки должно было существовать с древнейших времен; это, по-видимому, сайт, предназначенный Птолемеем, когда он отмечает существование места под названием Macoraba. Коранский рассказ, который приписывает свое основание Аврааму и Измаилу, возможно, уже обнародован в кругах ḥanīf (q.v.) перед исламом. Шарам, мекки Мекки, состоял из множества священных предметов и святых мест (см. ). Сообщается, что совершенно безкрашенная и грубо построенная структура Каабы содержала множество идолов (см. Кумиры и изображения), которые позднее были удалены Мухаммадом. На юго-восточной стороне Каабы был чёрный камень, аль-Хаджар. Рядом с зданием был колодец Замзама. Непосредственно прикрепленный к Каабе был ḥijr, невысокая полукруглая стена, простирающаяся от одной из сторон здания. Кроме того, была станция Авраама, которую иногда называли другим камнем, иногда как особый участок, и даже иногда приравнивали к всему шарам. Доисламский харам, известный Мухаммаду в Мекке, не был впечатляющим местом; это была не что иное, как просвет, а Кааба в его среде, степень которой была отмечена только внешними стенами домов мецканских купцов, тесно облегающих её.

Любые попытки проанализировать современный академический анализ исторических событий, предшествующих или современных с появлением ислама, сильно осложняются противоречиями, связанными с научными взглядами на ценность данных, представленных традиционными исламскими источниками. На одном конце спектра выступает презентация У. Монтгомери Уотта (Мухаммад в Мекке, Мухаммад в Медине), которая реконструирует ранние разработки по данным исламских источников, пытаясь связать материал с самими фактами qur’annic. С другой стороны, существует опровержение Патрисии Кроне (торговля Меккой и рост ислама) любых подобных усилий с учетом расхождений между вторичной литературой и основными источниками и противоречивой информации в рамках источников. Хотя Крон убедительно доказывал, что торговля в Меккане была гораздо более ограниченной по размеру, чем до сих пор допускаемые гипотезы, её более общий вывод можно обсудить: "В любом случае влияние Византии и Персии на Аравию должно быть на авангард исследований по поводу роста новой религии, а не торговли Меккой "(Crone, Meccan trade, 250). Это утверждение и гипотеза о том, что "Муψаммад мобилизовал версию монотеизма евреев (см. Еврей и иудаизм) против господства христианства (см. Христианство и христианство) и использовал его для самоутверждения, как идеологического, так и военного, своего собственного народа "(там же, 248), по-видимому, пренебрегают развитием, отраженным в самореферентных частях самого Корана. Эти самореферентные тексты касаются изменения qur'ānic в парадигме моральных ценностей (см. Этику и qur'ān) к новому восприятию пространства с точки зрения городских структур; более того, они представляют сценарий продолжающегося спора между верующими и язычниками, а не между верующими и христианами. Эти особенности подтверждают значительную часть традиционной исламской картины социальных и политических событий в Аравии в начале седьмого века, а не ревизионистских реконструкций. Следующее исследование ситуации в Мекке, современное с появлением сообщества, тесно следует аргументам беспартийного исследования, которое — в значительной степени в соответствии с исследованиями Альбрехта Нота (Früher Islam) — стремится связать ссылки qur'ānic с традиционными исламскими доклады, анализируя как из современной социологической точки зрения, так и в «Проблему Дзэс де Интегритизуя», которая была опубликована в журнале «Заслуженный менталитет».

Рыночные сети Мекки

Традиционные отчеты были реконструированы Мюллером, чтобы сформировать следующую картину: Мекка была основана как город около 400 с.е. когда племенная коалиция курайшитов (q.v.) стала более оседлой. В отличие от Гассанидов, аль-Ширы и кимьяра, оставшихся вассалами великих держав, то есть персов, византийцев и абиссинцев, Мекке удалось создать независимые формы политической и общественной организации после клана Меккан «Абд» Манаф был привилегирован, чтобы выступать в качестве агента этих держав в области междугородной торговли на Аравийском полуострове. Седантаризация кланов курайшитов подразумевала, что ранее сегментированное управление властью, которое лежало с довольно автономными семейными группами, стало централизованным в учреждении мала, городской сборной знатоков, которая осуществляла руководство над различными семейными группировками. Мекка середины шестого века представляет собой общество, в котором политические, экономические и религиозные уровни организации были воплощены в различных учреждениях с индивидуальными функциями, дополняющими друг друга. Связи крови (см. Родство) как общий знаменатель, таким образом, потеряли значимость, и отдельные люди смогли использовать свою политическую и экономическую хватку для создания сетей коммерческих партнеров. Таким образом, они могут доминировать в жизни своего сообщества в течение определённого периода времени, воплощая в себе общие интересы города. В то же время, в сфере религиозных убеждений, культы семейных групп были маргинализированы в пользу единства одного божества, который сакрализовал порядок городско-государственного образования. Этот процесс уменьшил взаимодействие с племенными богами — теперь пониженными, чтобы сформировать часть пантеона, связанного с главным божеством, — лишь к незначительным ритуалам, практикуемым по прагматическим причинам. Это развитие привело к обострению антагонизма, существующего между Меккой и местными племенными группами за пределами Мекки, и поддержало интегративную политическую, социальную и религиозную организацию своей градостроительной согласованности.

На культовом уровне происходило параллельное развитие. С формированием городской администрации ранее племенное святилище Каабы получило привилегированный статус, тогда как другие святилища все больше теряли свое независимое местное значение, в конечном итоге становясь подчиненными эксклюзивному шараму курайшитов. Культовый призыв (талбия) курайшитов ясно выражает такое положение вещей: Лаббайка Аллахумма лаббайк / иннана лакай / ḥumatunā'alā asinnati l-rimāḥ / yaḥsudūnanā l-nāsu’alā l-najāḥ ("Вот мы, Боже, вот мы / мы сперма / наше жало находится на кончиках наших копьев / людей, которые жалуются на наш успех ", Ибн Шабиб, аль-Мушаббар, 315). Согласно этой точке зрения, исключительность культа в Каабе контрастирует с практикой других святилищ, которые были интегрированы как подчиненные элементы в всеобъемлющий культовый контекст. Особое положение харама и обязательства, относящиеся к культу Каабы (а не к «Арафе», темп Веллхаузен, Рест, 85) составляют «фермент» племенной конфедерации, известной под общим названием ḥums, который был установлен в в середине шестого века (см. ¶ договоры и союзы). В нём проживали жители Мекки и отдельные племена из разных регионов полуострова (Хузая, Кинана), которые контролировали рынки своих территорий и приобрели своего рода всеобъемлющую идентичность. Другим партнером этого союза была конфедерация «Хилла», которая включала в себя те племена, которые, хотя и участвовали в торговле в Мекке, составляли политических и экономических партнеров лишь незначительного импорта для процветания города. Эти племена обратились к своим богам с культовыми призывами (талбия) и отпраздновали их обряды на собственном участке «Арафа», расположенном примерно в десяти километрах к востоку от Мекки. В отличие от Мекки, это пространство считается ḥill, т. Е. Профанным пространством. Именно там племена illilla выполнили свой хадж, прежде чем им разрешили войти в Меккан-Шарам (см. Паломничество). Обряды в «Арафе» резко контрастируют с обрядами ḥums в Шараме; ḥums отличились от illilla через особые запреты, которые должны соблюдаться во время их церемоний. Эти запреты придавали жизненно важные аспекты кочевой жизни табу (см. Кочевники), такие как базовое кочевое питание, жилище в палатках (см. Палатки и штыри для палаток), в особой одежде из материалов, производимых животноводами (см. Шкуры и флис, одежда) и выполняя обычай ṭawāf вокруг Ka’ba голым или без обуви. Эти и другие запреты не были обязательными для племен illilla и, следовательно, могли бы отделить мекканское малоподвижное население от их кочевого прошлого и укрепить, используя ссылки на культурно-культурные ссылки, их приверженность городской жизни. С особыми запретами такого рода, они выражают свое сознание того, чтобы быть избранным, потомство Авраама: naḥnu banū ibrāhīma wa-ahlu l-ḥurma wa-wulātu l-bayt wa-quṭṭānu makka wa-sukkānuhā fa-laysa li-aḥadin mina l -Араби митлу ḥaqqinā wa-lā mithlu manzilatinā ("Мы дети Авраама и людей ḥurma и защитников дома и жителей Мекки и его жителей, и ни один из арабов не имеет ничего подобного нашим правам или наш высокий ранг «, Ибн Шабиб, аль-Мунаммак, 143). Мекканский образ жизни стал городским укладом жизни.

Три основных рынка — „Укая“, „Маджанна“ и „Дху л-Маджаз“, чье религиозное значение как святилища племени уменьшилось, когда они столкнулись с коммерческими и централизованными функциями Меккан-Шарама, были расположены к юго-востоку от Мекки по пути в оазис аль-Шафиф. Эти сайты не были заселены за исключением рыночных дней. Их точные даты, известные как мавасим аль-ḥajj, опирались на время года и составляли неотъемлемую часть ḥajj племен illilla в „Арафа“ в течение трех священных месяцев. Благодаря экономической связи с международной торговлей мекканцев мавасим аль-ḥajj стал наиболее актуальным региональным коммерческим контекстом полуострова. Последовательность следовала строгому плану, кульминацией которого стал ḥajj of’Arafa: Dhū l-Qa’da 1-20: рынок в’Ukāẓ, Dhū al-Qa’da 21-29: Majanna; Dhū l-Ḥijja 1-8: Dhū l-Majāz, Dhū l-Ḥijja 9: ḥajj at’Arafa, Dhū l-Ḥijja 10: ijāza, церемониальное разрешение на вход в Меккан-Шарам и Dhū l-Ḥijja 10-13: ' аль-аḍḥа в Мине, снова за пределами Меккан-Шарам. Хотя эти рынки были расположены в районах, принадлежащих к определённым племенам, они могли стать внешними станциями для торговли в Мекке, поскольку эти племена были интегрированы в систему про-Кураши.

Согласно Мюллеру (Задача Цума), эта рыночная система Ḥijāzi, благодаря повторной интерпретации ритуальных практик ḥajj как политико-экономической деятельности и конструированию антагонизма ḥums-illilla, была подвергнута контролю в Мекке. Эта система не существовала изолированно от дальнейшей рыночной деятельности, но составляла ядро ​​второй более всеобъем-лющей рыночной системы, последовательность региональных рынков, которая охватывала обширные районы полуострова.

Ятриб / аль-Мадина

Медина находится в 24 ° 28 'северной широты, 39 ° 36' восточной долготы, примерно в 160 километрах от Красного моря и примерно в 350 км к северу от Мекки. Он развился из оазиса, окруженного на юго-востоке и западе землями Шарры, т. Е. Лавовыми потоками. Несколько вади, чей довольно высокий уровень воды требует нескольких колодцев и родников, пересекают оазис с юга на север. Медина, названная Ятриб в п. 33:13, засвидетельствована Птолемеем и Стефаном Византином в качестве Иатриппы и появляется как Ятриб в Минайских надписях. Аль-Мадина, арамейское кредитное слово, означает „город“ или место юрисдикции. Помимо десяти случаев qur'ānic как общего существительного, он фигурирует в четырёх сравнительно поздних стихах — q 9: 101, 120; 33:60, 63: 8 — как упоминание оазиса, когда оно было заселено в основном мусульманами. Медина вышла из разрозненной коллекции разбросанных поселений, окруженных рощами финиковых пальм (см. Финиковая пальма) и возделываемых полей. Характерными особенностями были ряд опорных пунктов (āṭām, sing. Uṭum), служащих убежищем во времена опасности. В прежние времена это место было в основном заселено еврейскими кланами, три из которых — Курайша, аль-Нахир и Кайнука — все ещё играли доминирующую роль во время эмиграции Мухаммада и его последователей из Мекки (хиджры). Первые две культивируемые особенно плодородные земли в оазисе, в то время как третье, помимо ведения рынка, были оружейниками и ювелирами. Некоторые из них, возможно, прибыли в ходе миграций, вызванных поражением Бар-Кохбы, другие, возможно, были арабами-новообращенными. Хотя они не были политически объединены их религией, в q 2:47 f. они утверждают, что они имеют еврейский спуск. Раннее еврейское господство Медины подошло к концу, когда две крупные арабские группы, аль-Авс и аль-Хазрадж, которые, как говорят, покинули Южную Аравию после разрыва плотины Мариб, пришли поселиться в Ятрибе. Хотя они первоначально находились под защитой еврейских групп, они позже одержали верх; однако еврейские группы сохранили определённую независимость.

По крайней мере за пятьдесят лет до эмиграции (хиджра) между арабскими группами произошла серия кровавых распрей, за которыми, возможно, был экономический фактор. Нарушение социального порядка в Медине стало решающим фактором, побудившим арабов Медины пригласить Мухаммада присоединиться к ним. В двух случаях некоторые ранние новообращенные организовывали соглашение с Мухаммадом; и, в результате последнего из этих соглашений, байат аль-Шарб, заключенный в 622 г., около семидесяти последователей Меккана Мухаммада вместе со своими иждивенцами эмигрировал в Медину небольшими группами. Мухаммад прибыл последним, добравшись до аль-Кубы на юге оазиса 12 Раби I (24 сентября 622 года).

География в Коране // языческий фон географического представительства qur’annic

Примечательно, что Коран, в отличие от древней арабской поэзии, избегает явного обозначения топографических данных. Только очень немногие исключения, в основном поздние, можно привести. Мекка, например, часто вызвана через его святилище (аль-байт аль-мамур, д. 52: 4, ал-масид аль-Шарам, q 2: 144, 149, 150, 191, 196, 217; 5: 2; 8:34, 9: 7, 19, 28, 17: 1, 22:25, 48:25, 28), или через свою роль в качестве родного города слушателя (карятука или qaryatukum, q 47:13) или как мегаполис par excellence (umm al qurā, q 6:92), но в конечном итоге явно назван дважды: в ¶ q 48:24 (Makka) и q 3:96 (Bakka). В то же время в эпоху Медина два места паломничества, аль-Шафа и аль-Марва, называются в q 2: 158, Йастриб назван в п. 33:13. Два сражения (см. Экспедиции и битвы) раннего ислама, Бадр (qv), небольшое место, расположенное к юго-западу от Медины (д. 3: 123) и Ḥunayn (qv), однодневное путешествие из Мекки по пути в аль-Ṭā'if (q 9:25), напоминаются в позднем тексте. Иерусалим (qv) вызван через его святилище (al-masjid al-aqṣā в q 17: 1 и просто al-masjid в q 17: 7), или есть намек на него через место в его храме (al- miḥrāb, q 3:37, 39; 19:11, 38:21). Содом и Гоморра вызываются через аль-му’тафикат (q 9:70, 69: 9, см. Almu’tafika, д. 53:53).

Яркий недостаток географических названий объясняется тем фактом, что реальное социальное пространство воспринимается в ранние Мекканские периоды меньше с эмпирической точки зрения, как этап для мирского человеческого взаимодействия, чем с эсхатологической точки зрения (см. ), как многократно — стадионный форум дебатов, где божественная истина должна выйти победителем. Лишь позже, в эпоху Медина, эти места превращаются в территории, которые необходимо контролировать, и поэтому должны быть отмечены однозначными именами. Таким образом, изменяя понятия пространства, можно взять в качестве этапов в qur’annic каноническом процессе (см. Сборник qur'ān, кодификация qur'ān, форма и структура qur'ān).

Коран в statu nascendi обращается к публике, которая привыкла слушать тексты, которые представляют человеческое состояние в терминах, очень отличающихся от представления qur'ānic, концертов, которые сохраняются в обширном корпусе доисламской арабской поэзии. Надо полагать, что этот текстовый мир древних поэтов был знаком не только с доисламскими слушателями, но и с более поздними арабскими новообращенными. Таким образом, древние поэты никоим образом не могут быть изолированы от Корана. Напротив, сам „Курьян“ представляет ответ на них. Хотя гораздо более заинтересованный в „присутствии, примере и провокации предшествующих семитских религий“ (Cragg, Event, 15), западная стипендия отдает дань уважения различным аспектам этой встречи (Фаррух, ), даже утверждая, что древние поэзия обеспечивает „духовный фон“ для Корана (Bravmann, ). Ученые также признали достижение перекодировки Корана (Изуцу, ) мира, воображаемого в поэзии, в новую парадигму этических ценностей, подчеркивая диалектическое отношение (Монтгомери, Поэзия), существующее между двумя областями мышления , Но хотя qur’аническое построение реального и воображаемого пространства, безусловно, является одним из самых важных достижений в контексте поворота от язычества к исламу, не было проведено обширное исследование относительно qur’анического географического представительства как арабской среды обитания, так и библейских мест (см. ).

Понятие пространства в доисламской поэзии
Пустынное пространство;

Предкуристская литературная парадигма подразумевает восприятие пространства как вызов для людей, потому что оно не в их распоряжении. Редко он представляет себя как „боевое пространство“, требуя, чтобы его вызвал герой бедуинов. Тем не менее, даже когда пространство не рассматривается в таком динамическом контексте, но представлено более статическим образом, оно не является неотъемлемой частью естественной среды обитания поэтического докладчика; скорее, он представляется как субъект, лишенный реальной жизни и преследуемый потерей. Тем не менее, роль топографии в древней поэзии поразительна, особенно когда поэт в доисламском (джахилии) основной жанр поэзии, qaṣīda, решает начать свою речь с элегического „aṭlāl-section“, в котором обремененное любовное отношение. Он вкладывает много усилий в описание подробных особенностей при-родного пространства, где он обнаруживает себя, остановившись в пустынном кемпинге, чтобы вспомнить любимого прошлого. Однако картина, которую он рисует для создания своего первого входа, не выражает наслаждения природой или эстетическим наслаждением её необыкновенными чертами, а скорее представляет собой поиск реконструкции утраченной формы („Гештальт“) того пространства, которое раньше было переполнено с выполнением социального взаимодействия, но тем временем разложил-ся и стал изуродован климатическими влияниями. Именно поэт должен предоставить пространство своим отличительным чертам, чтобы заставить его говорить снова — ситуация, которая иногда побуждает его обращаться к месту, буквально умоляя его ответить ему. Некоторые стихи из знаменитого насиба Муаллаки Лабида (ст. 1, 2, 10) служат для иллюстрации:

Исправлены обители, краткие лагеря и длинные поселения / в Мине пустыня объявила Маунт-Галь и гору Риам ('afati l-diyāru maḥalluhā fa-muqāmuhā / bi-minan ta’abbada ghawluhā fa-rijāmuhā).

Навозные темные пятна, над которыми, поскольку они были населены, прошло лет. Их светские месяцы и священные скончались (dimanun tajarrama ba’da’ahdi anīsihā / ḥijajun khalawna ḥalāluhā wa-ḥarāmuhā).

Затем я остановился и допросил их, но как мы сомневаемся в бессмертиях, чья речь нечеткая? (fa-waqaftu as’aluhā wa-kayfa su'ālunā / ṣumman khawālida mā yabīnu kalāmuhā, trans. Stetkevych, Mute immortals, 9).

Когда вводятся сцены идиллической групповой жизни, они устраиваются в животном мире, а не в человеке, тем самым усиливая чувство лишения, понесенное поэтом, который находится в состоянии потери в отношении эротического и супружеского исполнения (см., Например, Labīd’s Муаллака, ст. 6-7).

Хотя пространство представлено как пустое и пустынное, местоположение имеет тенденцию быть очень определённым. Названия мест изобилуют (Thilo, ). Места отмечены и по-прежнему узнаваемы как ранее населенные, как памятные места, места памяти и тоски, хотя и размыты и пустынны в то время, когда говорит поэт, и уже не являются средой взаимодействия человека. Таким образом, географическое представительство резко контрастирует с физическим отсутствием тех, для кого предназначено такое представление. Это ещё более поразительно, как отметил Хамори (…), „что в“ аляльской сцене время не имеет эффективного содержания». Дезертированность пространства не связана с каким-либо историческим событием, имеющим отношение к настоя-щему, но к сезонной практике племен верблюдов, которые только зимой и весной, когда были достаточными водные ресурсы, свободно бродили по пустыне со своими верблюдами, но с началом засухи отступили к своим постоянным источникам воды. Таким образом, эти требования ограничивали долгосрочные столкновения между членами разных племен до коротких периодов и предопределили разрыв личных отношений после короткой продолжительности. Лишь в редких случаях это исчезновение следов лагерей, объясняемых явлениями, которые выходят за рамки насущных потребностей, как в стихах «Авд» (…).

Эмблемное пространство

Несмотря на то, что мир доисламских слушателей поэзии кажется хорошо отображенным, названия мест часто приводятся и играют заметную роль в начальной части qaṣīda, и, хотя резкая реализация физико-географического феномена может засвидетельствовать, отношение человека к пространству кажется напряженным. Языческий поэт или, точнее, его персонаж, бедуинский герой, должен снова и снова завоевывать пространство, чтобы соответствовать идеалам мурулла и таким образом выполнять свою роль образцового члена племенного общества. Рискованные экспедиции, предпринятые героем через самые негостеприимные районы и авантюрные аттракционы в экстремальных климатических условиях, относятся к тематическим темам закрывающей части, фахр, древней арабской кашиды. Одно из самых известных свидетельств этого поэтического самооценки — хотя в этом случае возвращение не к племенному интегральному поэту, а скорее к преступнику — это, безусловно, триумфальные заключительные стихи Ламийят аль-Караба аль-Шанфары:

Я пересек пустыни, как заднюю часть щита, где ни один чудовище путешественника не ступает (ва-харцин ка-ẓahri l-tursi qafrin qaṭā'tuhu / bi-'milatayni ẓahruhu laysa yu’malū).

Я привязал один конец отходов к другому, сидел на корточках или стоял на пике (wa-alḥaqtu ūlāhu bi-ukhrāhu mūfiyan /'alā qunnatin uq'ī marāran wa-amthulū).

В то время как темно-желтые горные козы приходят и ходят ко мне, как девицы в конечных одеждах (таруду l-arāwī l-ṣuḥmu ḥawlī ka-annahā /'adhārin’alayhinna l-mulā'u l-mudhayyalū)

Пока в сумерках они не стояли обо мне, неподвижно, как будто я был белесым, хриплым рогатым, с завихрением в ногах, масштабиром вершин (ва-яркудна би-л-āṣāli ḥawlī ka-annanī / mina l-'uṣmi adfā yantaḥī l-kīḥa a’qalū, trans. Hamori, The Art, 30).

Действительно, с небольшим преувеличением можно было бы предположить, что пространство, находящееся среди тех враждебных элементов, которые постоянно угрожают человеку, в силу своего импульса — это одно из проявлений судьбы (альмания, альманун, альдахр, увидеть судьбу, время, судьбу). Бедуинский герой, который не находится в состоянии овладения своим местом обитания, но должен снова и снова наделять себя полномочиями бросать вызов своему самому угрожающему врагу, всепоглощающей судьбе, во многих случаях делает это в опасном пространстве , Пространство и судьба часто рассматриваются как тесно связанные, например, стих "Урва б. Аль-Вард (Caskel, Das Schicksal, 21) подтверждает:

Многие серые (пустыни), где погибают, опасаются / когда путешественнику угрожают судьбы судьбы (я пересекся, ва-габрана махшиин радаха махуфатин / ахуха би-асбаби л-манайа мугаррару).

Пространство, таким образом, часто представлено как место битвы, сцена человеческой борьбы за самоутверждение против угрожающей природы. Не в последнюю очередь благодаря его воспоминанию о «особых завоеваниях», герой бедуинов уравновешивал взгляды человека на покойный образ жизни как легкую добычу для случайных нападений анонимных сил природы и, таким образом, вносит свой вклад в согласованность его племенного общества.

"Старая арабская qaṣīda была одновременно чувственной и логичной, поскольку она сталкивалась с аль-даром, временем и изменчивостью, которая не заботилась о человеческом поведении и человеческом разуме, управляющем миром. В морально-капризной вселенной героическая модель позволила рассматривать совокупность опыта как сбалансированную и последовательную. Чтобы достичь равновесия, оратор qaṣīda предлагает себе добровольный опыт полноты, а также пустоту, выгоды и потери "(Hamori, The Art, 29).

Ответы (qur'ānic канонический процесс, отраженный в перекодировании языческих понятий пространства)

В отличие от героического отношения человека к космосу, которое проявляется в поэзии, ранние откровения qur'ānic представляют земное пространство как особую вдохновляющую уверенность. Они представляют его как место удовольствия и наслаждения, как место для приема божественной щедрости и как место этически-заряженного социального взаимодействия.

Эстетически приятное пространство, символически значимое пространство // де-мифизация языческого героического пространства

Ранним и доминирующим изображением является хорошо сохранившаяся палатка, позволяющая человеку отдыхать, наслаждаться супружеской жизнью, а также преследовать свою повседневную деятельность мирным и уверенным в себе способом. § 78: 6-16 сильно напоминает один из псалмов похвалы, которые интерпретируют мирское пространство как безопасное жилище для сотворенных существ: "Разве мы не сделали землю простором, а горы фальшивы? И создал вас парами (см. Создание)? И назначил ваш сон как покой, а ночь в виде плаща (см. ) и день для средств к существованию? И построил над вами семь сильных [небес; видеть небо и небо]? "(a-lam naj’ali l-arḍa mihādā / wal-jibāla awtādā / wa-khalaqnākum azwājā / wa-ja’alnā nawmakum subātā / wa-ja’alnā l-layla libāsā / wa-ja’alnā l-nahāra ma'āshā / wa -banaynā fawqakum sab’an shidādā). Таким образом, мирское пространство является божественной милостью, требующей благодарности (шукр), подарок, который вдохновляет формы поклонения (q.v.), что, в свою очередь, улучшит согласованность отношений между Богом и человечеством. Существует целый куранский жанр гимнов, восхваляющих божественное всемогущество, так называемый айат, «знаки» (qv, Neuwirth, Studien, Graham, «The winds»), которые полагаются на само понятие о том, что земля была оборудована разнообразными означает сделать жизнь человека легкой и приятной (например, «Бог послал воду с небес и оживил её с ней после её смерти», q 16:65: wa-llāhu anzala mina l-samā'i mā'an fa-aḥyā bihi l-arḍa ba’da¶ mawtihā). Восстание земли, которая казалась мертвой, является признаком божественного провидения: «Разве вы не видели, как Бог посылает воду с небес, а земля становится зелёной на следующий день?» (Q 22:63: a-lam tara anna llāha anzala mina l-samā'i mā'an fa-tuṣbiḥu l-arḍu mukhḍarratan). Похоже, что картина отражает сельский оазис, такой как аль-Ṭā'if или Yathrib: "Мы опустили воду, затем разделили землю на расщелины и заселили зерно в нём, а виноград и зелёный корм и оливковые деревья и финиковые пальмы, и садовые рощи, и плоды и травы, обеспечивающие вас и ваш скот "(q 80: 25-32: annā ṣababnā l-mā'a ṣabbā / thumma shaqaqnā l-arḍa shaqqā fa-anbatnā fīhā ḥabbā / wa-'inaban wa-qaḍbā / wa-zaytūnan wa-nakhlā / wa-ḥadā'iqa ghulbā / wa-fākihatan wa-abbā / matā'an lakum wa-lian'āmikum). Эти описания, конечно, не лишены символического измерения. Образ мертвой земли, чудесным образом возрожденный, вызван не в последнюю очередь для того, чтобы представить эмпирически очевидный предшественник божественной силы возрождения мертвых, что противоречит эмпирической верификации. Поэтому идея является центральной не только для ранних сур (см. П. 79: 27-33), но повторяется снова и снова на более поздних этапах (q 22: 5, 50: 9-11, 57:17, 41: 38- 9).

Ранние описания Меккана, подобные этим, не только передают сообщение о божественном всемогуществе, освобождая человека от его бремени, чтобы бороться за его выживание, доминирующей темой доисламской поэзии. Их цель более далеко идущая: вся парадигма, в которой мужское самоуважение зависела от его достижений (что в мекканских терминах, возможно, проявилось в коммерческом успехе), должно было быть переопределено. Сдвиг фокуса: от человека, являющегося единственным агентом в процессе восстановления смысла жизни, внимание обращается на созданную природу, которая проявляет богопознанное обилие ¶ (см. ). Бог выступает в качестве решающего агента в процессе восстановления смысла жизни, передавая его послание через эстетически понятные явления. Адресат — в отличие от ситуации древней арабской поэзии — сообщества. Будь то образ твердой земли или изображение моря (baḥr, ср. Q 16: 4, 25: 54-5, 35:12, baḥrān, ср. Бартольд, Der Koran und das Meer), человечество учит радоваться божественно украшенному космосу, который одновременно проявляет новую парадигму социальной согласованности.

Обилие растительности как божественного дара

Не удивительно, что растительность играет значительную роль в передаче образа мира как гостеприимного царства человеческой жизни (см. ). Растительность в Коране была тщательно изучена Арне Амбросом (Gestaltung und Funktionen). Его презентация очень полезна для нынешних целей, поскольку она дает представление о восприятии слушателями местных, воображаемых и даже трансцендентных ландшафтов; он будет таким образом обобщен в следующем. Коран предлагает не менее одиннадцати подробных описаний земной растительности. Они распределены по всему корпусу Корана, одинаково отражаясь в контексте истории спасения (q.v.), расположенной за пределами полуострова, и в реальности нынешней ситуации слушателей на полуострове. Их частота по отношению к скудности изображений фауны (для которых можно привести только 16: 5-8) указывает на отношение слушателей к царству растений как принципиально отличное от отношения к царству животных (см. ). Важным элементом этих отношений является восхищение красотой растений; их часто рассматривают без учета их полезности.

Одна из трех основных тем, которые включают растительность, — это описание растений как свидетельство щедрот Бога (не менее сорока вхождений). Вторая тема — восприятие постоянной угрозы, которой подвергаются растения в связи с резкими климатическими изменениями и нехваткой водоснабжения — наблюдение, которое часто вызывает переходный характер всех существ. Эта тема разворачивается тринадцать раз, и в пяти из них сочетаются первая и вторая темы. Третья тема — разнообразие растительности в природе. Эта тема иногда вспыхивает в восклицаниях восхищения и восторга, которые никогда не встречаются в сочетании с описаниями животного мира.

Самым часто упоминаемым местом растительности является, конечно, сад (q.v .; janna), который также обозначает другой мирский сад. Определены конкретные растения, выращенные в саду, такие как финиковые пальмы и виноградные лозы (q 2: 266, 17:91, 23:19, 36:34). Таким образом, Жанну нельзя представить как просто декоративный сад, а скорее как плантацию, «сад, из которого один ест» (п. 25: 8). Таким образом, земной сад является областью, которая позволяет хорошо жить или даже богатство. В то время как rawḍa — место с обильной растительностью, садом или лугом — в Коране обозначает только райское обитель, ḥadīqa появляется как локаль, где встречаются обильные растения, в том числе деревья (q 27:60; 80:30). В отличие от этого, qur’annic ḥarth — это место, где растут прежде всего зерновые. Он представлен в п. 3:14 как обладание, желательное для людей. Связанный с трудом, Дарт никогда не появляется в описаниях рая. Однако это служит метафорой ограничений, которые требуются от людей в качестве квалификации для приема в райскую загробную жизнь: "Тот, кто желает урожая (ḥarth) в будущем, мы увеличиваем его урожай для него; но тот, кто желает принять жребий мира, мы отдаем его ему, но он не имеет частичной жизни "(q 42:20, человек кана юриду ḥartha l-ākhirati nazid lahu fī ḥarthihi wa-man kāna yurīdu ḥartha l-dunyā nu’tihi minhā wa-mā lahu fī l-ākhirati min naṣīb). Остатки мифического мышления отражены в метафоре ḥarth в q 2: 223: «Ваши жены — ваш твард, так что подходите к своему ḥарту, как вы пожелаете» (nisā'ukum ḥarthun lakum fa-tū ḥarthakum annā shi’tum). Лексем zar' (pl. Zurū') обозначает посевные растения. Принимая во внимание его связь с тяжелой работой, например, он ограничен мирскими контекстами; когда оно встречается в единственной форме, zar', это синоним набата, наиболее частым из которых является похвала божественного ухода и провидения (д. 6: 141, 16:11, 32:27, 39:21). Примечательно, что регион вокруг Мекки призван в молитве Авраама «долиной без существования зара» (вади-гайр дхи-зар, кв. 14:37) или невообразимой областью, пустошей.

Польза от растительности проявляется во фруктах. Наименее конкретное понятие кажется тамаром, «плодом». Только один раз указывается в q 16:67: «плоды ладоней и виноградных лоз» (тамарат ат-нахил ва-л-а’наб). Используемый во множественном числе, он охватывает все виды фруктов — в том числе полей — и обычно обозначает нормальные средства существования, которые даны Богом, но может быть убран им всякий раз, когда ему это нравится (см. Q 2 : 22; 14:32: «Он посылает воду с неба, и через неё творит плод для вас как благословение [rizqan]», anzala mina l-samā'i mā'an fa-akhraja bihi mina l-thamarāti rizqan lakum). Нехватка фруктов (q 7: 130) фигурирует среди наказаний египтян (см. ). Чуть более точным является fākiha, с этимологическим коннотацией приятных фруктов (f-k-h обозначает настроение быть веселым), в основном появляясь в райских изображениях.

После фруктов семена занимают видное место среди частей растений. Прорастание семян рассматривается как произведение Бога (q 6:95, inna llāha fāliqu l- ḥabbi wa-l-nawā). В большинстве других случаев ḥabb или ḥabba служит символом крошечной вещи, которая ещё не забыта Богом: «Ни один лист не падает, но он знает это, а также зерно (шабба) во тьме земли» (q 6:59, wa-mā tasquṭu min waraqatin illā ya’lamuhā wa-lā ḥabbatin fī ẓulumāti l -'arḍi). В п. 21:47 и 31:16 упоминается, что Бог будет считать даже вес одного зерна горчичного семени (митхал ḥabbatin min hhardalin).

В отношении отдельных растений есть, прежде всего, деревья: арабское слово shajar или shajara также используется для обозначения кустов и кустарников. Некоторые контексты указывают на место обитания арабов, q 36:80, где разжигание огня из шаджара считается божественным даром для человечества (также q 56:71 f.). Как место, где живут пчелы, шахар появляется в q 16:68. Историческое событие в жизни Мухаммеда связано с деревом в q 48:18: idh yubāyi'ūnaka taḥta l-shajarati. Другие упоминания о шаджаре (а) указывают на внеарабскую среду обитания, такую ​​как оливковое дерево на горе Синай (qv; q 23:20), горящий куст Моисея (qv; q 28:30, см. Огонь), и тыквенный кустарник Джонаса (qv; q 37: 146). В знаменитом Светлом Стихе (д. 24:35) есть другое мирское дерево (шаджара мубарака зайтуна). В противном случае деревья часто фигурируют в раю и действительно характерны для его пейзажа; но есть также дерево экзотической формы, шаджарат аль-zaqqūm или shajar min zaqqūm, в аду (q.v .; q 37:62; 44:43; 56:52, ср. 17:60).

Очень часто упоминается пальма, особенно важное растение в Аравии: нахла или, вместе, нахль (пл. Нахил). Это единственное растение, которое подробно описано в Коране (q 6:99, 13: 4, 26: 148; 50:10, 55:11). Ввиду важности ладоней в арабской среде обитания метафора разрушенных пальм обеспечивает достаточно шокирующий образ, чтобы драматизировать тему людей, пораженных божественным наказанием, " (q 54:20, 69: 7)х). Нахль может появляться в том же контексте, что и сады. Они также встречаются в внеарабских местах обитания, таких как q 19:23, 25 (нахла в рассказе о рождении Исы) и q 20:71 (Мусы, появившийся перед фараоном), а также в описании рай (д. 55:68). Плод пальмы упоминается довольно редко (q 19:25, ruṭab, q 16:67, thamarāt al-nakhīl).

Вина упоминаются одиннадцать раз ('inab, в основном a’nāb); они появляются в большинстве случаев (семь раз) вместе с финиковыми пальмами (q 18:32), возможно, из-за совместного культивирования обоих видов. Вина также появляются в описаниях рая (q 78:32, запрет на употребление опьяняющих напитков довольно поздний [см. Q 16:67], см. ). Помимо финиковых пальм и виноградных лоз, оливковые деревья (зайтун) встречаются пять раз, дважды в месте обитания горы Синай.

Другие растения, названные в Коране, — это деревья тамариска (атль, д. 34:16), лук (baṣal, q 2:61), инжир или фиговые деревья (tīn, q 95: 1), горчица (хардал, q 21:47; 31:16), дерево лотов (сидр, д. 34:16, 56:28, см. 53:14, 16), имбирь (Занджабил, д. 76:17), гранаты (rummān, q 6:99, 141; 55 : 68), базилик (лучан, д. 55:12), чечевица ('adas, q 2:61), чеснок (fūm, q 2:61) и кустарник из тыквы (yaqṭīn, q 37: 146). В отличие от них некоторые типичные имена трудно идентифицировать: khamṭ, тернистые кусты (q 34:16), ḍarī', сушеные тернистые кусты (q 88: 6), qaḍb, кормовые растения (q 80:28, см. Травы).

Эмпирическое знание этих растений и, кроме того, их места выращивания ясно указывает на знакомство и, по сути, уважение сельских оазисов, таких как аль-Ṭā'if, как места наслаждения и наслаждения мысленной картой слушателей. Растительность в раю существенно не отличается, но ¶ только более обильная, чем земная растительность. Примечательно, что лишь некоторые из упомянутых в Коране растений свидетельствуют о эмпирических знаниях слушателей о растительности пустыни.

Городское общественное пространство как форум значимого социального взаимодействия

Древняя бедуинская поэзия изображает образцового человека, когда он появляется на публике, как связанный с обременительными ограничениями. Ожидается, что он проявит чрезвычайную щедрость, иногда граничащую с экономическим самоуничтожением, чтобы жертвовать героически бросить вызов трудностям, наложенным на более слабых людей судьбой. Человек в Коране освобождается от этого бремени. Двигаясь в городском пространстве, он ориентируется на этические ценности, которые символически отражаются в самих городских структурах. Его «героизм» не зависит от богатства и статуса, но благочестия (q.v.) и морально-этического послушания (q.v.). Например, 90 «Город» (Сурат аль-Балад) может служить примером: "Нет, клянусь этим городом. И вы житель (ḥillun) этого города. И рожденный, и то, что он родил. Мы поистине создали человека в страданиях (кабадин). Думает ли он, что у него нет власти? И он говорит: «Я уничтожил огромное богатство». Он думает, что его никто не видит? Разве мы не предоставили ему два глаза (q.v.) и язык и два губа, и направили его к двум горным перевалам (najdayn). Но он не пытался подняться (аль-'акаба). Что скажет вам, что такое восхождение? [Это] освобождение раба, кормящего в день голода сироту (qv) возле близких или нищих в нищете (см. Бедность и бедных), и быть теми, кто верит (см. Веру и неверие) и призывайте друг друга к упорству (см. доверие и терпение) и милосердие (qv). Их место будет по правую руку. Но те, кто не верит в наши откровения, их место будет слева. Огонь будет навесом над ними ". Первоначальное заклинание вызывает Мекку как место происхождения адресата, присоединяя его к сложной идее продолжения рода (см. Биология как создание и этапы жизни). Мекка, как город с теменосом, харам, т. Е. Место, где произошло божественное Богоявление, является, таким образом, ссылкой на идею божественного взаимодействия с людьми. Аллюзии на создание и божественное общение в начале истории (см. Историю и qur'ān) были идентифицированы как второстепенная складская тема, которая пробуждает ожидания слушателей столь же сложного завершения, как и физического, так и духовного времени (Нойвирт, Изображения и метафоры, см. Форму и структуру qur'ān). Мекка, начиная с самого начала как локуса божественного самопроявления, привлекала эсхатологическую коннотацию, подобную таковой в библейских местах, упомянутых в сопоставленных вводных клятвах текстах, а именно: Гора Синай и Иерусалим, введение которых в начале суры служат прелюдия к эсхатологическим дискурсам, развернутым в конце текстов.

Что особенно примечательно в этой суре, это отражение городской структуры в образе человека. Топографические особенности (два пути, альнайдан, крутой путь, аль-'акаба) напоминают особенности человеческого тела, чьи органы, некоторые из которых также двойственны, были сформированы, чтобы дать ему возможность понять правильные способы морального поведения. Таким образом, как городские, так и телесные структуры являются божественными жетонами, которые должны быть переведены слушателями в этические императивы. Топографические особенности сложных путей и крутой дороги, которые строят обществен-ное пространство города, должны рассматриваться как моральные задачи. Восхождение на них означает сдерживать себя в пользу других: облегчить бремя рабов, голодных и бедных. Эти «другие» представлены как сотворенные существа, чьи телесные части (ракаба, представляющие социальный «класс» рабов), генетические отношения (maqraba, представляющие класс равных или богатых) или даже чьи болезни (масхаба, намекающие к классу бедных), через общие стили рифмы, вызывают вышеупомя-нутую урбанистическую особенность «акабы», таким образом, включая их в морально требовательной организации городского публичного пространства. Мекка, косвенно введенная (ст. 1-2) в качестве сценария этого взаимодействия, очевидно, признана политикой тела, подходящей для осуществления социальной деятельности в соответствии с божественной волей (см. также ).

Языческое восприятие идеальной деятельности человека в общественном пространстве является образцово представленным в этой суре («Я уничтожил огромное богатство», д. 90: 6, ахлакту малан лубад) словами самого неверующего. Это, однако, не отвергается с аргументами, известными из контр-голоса языческого поэта, часто приводимого «критика», который направлен на недопущение преувеличенной щедрости и предостерегает от излишних семейных перерасходов, что может привести к обнищанию , В то время как в доисламской поэзии видимость в публичном пространстве означала расточительствовать свое состояние, перерасход, чтобы доказать свою щедрость, в Коране любые настойчивые действия в таких экстремальных практиках осуждаются. Общественная внешность в Коране скорее регулируется этическим кодексом, целью которого является справедливое распределение товаров, достигнутое бесчеловечным образом. Это опыт города как структурированного пространства, которое в Коране предоставляет метафоры для передачи этого кода.

Восстановление смысла в пустынном пространстве (умма халя, реконструкция пространства с точки зрения спасения исторической литературы)

По словам Кеннета Крэгга, "арабская история была поражена воспоминанием о целых процветающих общинах, которые распались и скончались в результате краха, внезапного или кумулятивного, их земляных и ирригационных систем, наиболее примечательных из всего катастрофического конца плотины Ма’риб и непоправимая потеря драгоценного сверхнормального неконтролируемого эрозии "(Событие, 88). Это, безусловно, фактический фон повторных воспоминаний прошлых культур, умах халя или пустынных местностей в Коране. Тем не менее, частые описания пустынного пространства как маркера одиночества, поиска смысла и бесконечных вопросов, которые так заметно проявляются в языческой поэзии, также звучат во многих аллюзиях в пустынное пространство в Коране. Но в Коране — вопреки ситуации в поэзии — ответы на все вопросы. Заброшенные места — это исторические места, вызванные сообщениями о событиях. Хотя они редко называются явно, они по-прежнему становятся узлами с символическим значением, поскольку их воскрешение знаменует собой начало процесса преобразования: верующие превращаются из сообщества, внедренного в локальную коллективную память (см. напр. 105:1 о эпизоде слон), где воспоминания местного опыта (q 106: 1-2 о прошлом и настоящем Мекки), в сообщество, чья память о воображаемом пространстве ориентиро-вана на «другую» традицию: историю спасения. Развитие достигнет своего апогея с перекодировкой значительной географии в целом, т. Е. С её интеграцией в мир, который сообщается на основе писаний. До того, как эта ступень будет достигнута, намеки на пустынные места, которые фигурируют в текстах Меккана, часто связаны с миром слушателей, то есть с Ḥijāz или с Аравийским полуостровом в целом. Эти сайты с самого начала представлены в виде коллективного повество-вания, места, наполненные смыслом, гарантирующие слушателям богоутвержденного порядка, в которых доминирует не капризная судьба или циклически возникающие ограничения, а та, в которой равновесие человеческого действия и благосостояние достигнуто. Более подробно о местных арабских сайтах umam khāliya мы можем просто обратиться к первому исследованию Йозефа Горовица «Кораническое унтерпунгун» (для Ирама [qv] в q 89: 7, см. Horovitz, ku, 89, для Thamūd [qv] в q 11 : 61-8, 51:43, 54: 23-32, 69: 5, 89: 8, 91:11, см. Horovitz, ku, 11 f., 103 f., А также J. Stetkevych , Мухаммад, для Мадьяна [см. Midian] в q 7:85 f, 9:70, 11:84 f, 20:42, 22:43, 28:21, 29:35 f., См. Horovitz, ku, 138, для Сабы [см. Sheba] в п. 27:22, см. Horovitz, ku, 115 f, для Tubba' [qv или qawm Tubba'] в q 44:36 f., 50:13, см. Horovitz, ku, 103 , для Содома и Гоморры [qur'ānic al-mu’tafikāt] в q 9:70, 69: 9, см. Horovitz, ku, 13 f.).

Что является общим для всех из них, независимо от того, представлены ли они как известные и видимые для первой аудитории Корана, или только приводятся в качестве мифических примеров, состоит в том, что они представляют собой пространства, воображаемые в основном как «города» (qurā, sing. Qarya, q 47:14, см. стр. 30: 9, 35:43, 40:22, 82), который во времена Корана стал пустынным. Но то, что было в языческой поэзии из-за сезонного цикла, т. Е. Необходимость покинуть лагерные лагеря из-за нехватки воды и последовательных опустошений посредством естественного распада, было изложено в Коране с исторической причиной. Разрушение мест вызвано божественным возмездием, которое бывшие жители — неверующие — призывали к себе. То, что в языческой поэзии вызвало бы отставку: соблазн позволить себе поддаться подавляющей силе судьбы, из которой поэт восстанавливался только через напряженные личные усилия, был для аудитории Корана уже не угрозой. Не один раз (q 27:69, 30:42), Коран приглашает слушателей бродить по землям и убеждать себя в тех трагических концах, с которыми встречались более ранние народы — идея, связанная уже с Горовицем с описаниями aṭlāl древней поэзии, а также стихов на «ubi sunt qui ante nos fuerunt» topos (Becker, Islamstudien, i, 501 f.). Но Коран, в отличие от ностальгических стихов поэзии, имеет параэнетическую ориентацию, передавая сообщение о том, что даже самые могущественные народы уничтожаются, когда они бросают вызов предупреждениям своих посланников (см. Предупреждение). Он учит неизбежности, но в то же время избегает, божественного возмездия в этой жизни (см. Наказание и наказание), что приводит к разрушению среды обитания в этом мире. Судьба может быть преодолена, а не через героические усилия, но, повинуясь посланникам (см. Послушание). Отсутствие человеческого присутствия компенсируется не уверенностью в прежнем счастье, а историей, восстанавливающей смысл, восстановлением баланса между тем, что произошло, и страданием, которое было перенесено. Беспокойная судьба и всепоглощающее время уступили свою власть просто божественному агенту. Космос восстановил осмысленное историческое измерение.

Изгнание и восстановление знакомого пейзажа // «библификация» языческого пространства

Два движения внутри qur'ānic corpus отмечают фигуру Мекки как место спасительной важности. Первое представляет Мекку как кальку на библейских знаках святой земли и Иерусалима, а вторая — Меккой в ​​качестве второго Иерусалима.

Мекка как аналог библейских мест откровения // святая земля и Иерусалим

Интересно отметить, что ранние суры, которые в противном случае сосредоточены на сакральном пространстве Меккана или арабских местах возмездия, в некоторых случаях уже напоминают о центральных святилищах библейской географии. Это относится, в частности, к горе Синай (q 19:52, 20:80, 28:46, 95: 2), место ревелинга, полученное Моисеем (q.v.). Благодаря сопоставлению этого святилища с Меккой языческое святилище утверждается в его ауре святого места, почитаемого как таковое в его прошлом через божественное проявление и, таким образом, общение божественной воли.

На более позднем этапе, когда карта верующих сама расширилась, уже не ради Мекки упоминаются библейские локусы: возникло новое понятие о географии, относящееся не к опытному пространству, а к желаемому пространству. Это область святой земли, знакомая с иудаизмом и христианством, заменяет привычную местную географию.

Святая земля (al-arḍ al-muqaddasa, q 5:21, al-arḍ allatī bāraknā ḥawlahā / fīhā, буквально, «земля, которую мы благословили», q 21:71, ср. 7: 137; 17: 1 , 34:18) возникает в Коране в разных случаях. Особенно средние и поздние периоды Меккан изобилуют воспоминаниями о библейской истории. Предыдущие воспоминания о истории спасения Аравии сменяются воспоминаниями о библейской истории с участием детей Израиля. Местные памятные места заменяются географически отда-ленными — появляется новая топографическая сакра, принятая из «других», а не генеалогические, а духовные предки. Одним из первых событий, зафиксированных на святой земле, является история Лота (q.v .; Lūṭ), поставленная в мутафикате (см. 53: 53-6; 69: 9). Действительно, вся история израильтян, за исключением частей, поставленных в Египте (Мишр) и их блуждающих по пустыне Синай, находится на святой земле. Далее Коран рассказывает о нескольких значительных событиях истории спасения, которые были поставлены в Иерусалиме, например, о рождении сына, одаренного пророчеством пожилым Захарии (qv; q 3:39, 19: 7, см. Иоанн-Креститель), пребывания молодых Мария (qv) в храме на попечении Захарии (д. 3:37), суждение Давида, рассматриваемое в Коране как божественное судебное разбирательство (q 38:21 f.) И, наконец, катастрофа разрушения святилища иностранными завоевателями, понимаемыми как наказание, наложенное на детей Израиля (п. 17: 2). Эти qur’анические ссылки на Иерусалим и святую землю, хотя и часто не явные, не только служат для завершения повествования о истории спасения, но также помогают слушателям перенести отдаленный мир памяти других как свое собственное духовное прошлое. Сообщество, призванное пойти во внутреннюю ссылку, жаждало заменить эмоционально отчужденный и политически враждебный ландшафт их происхождения. Благодаря принятию qibla к Иерусалиму, датируемому последними годами деятельности Меккана Мухаммада, была построена траектория. 17: 1, единственный стих, который связывает святую землю непосредственно с биографией Пророка, также является свидетельством установления первой qibla (qv; Neuwirth, духовного значения): «Прославляем быть тем, кто нес его слугу ночью от неприкосновенного святилища (альмасид аль-Шарам) до отдаленного святилища (аль-масид аль-акша), окрестности, где мы благословляем, чтобы мы могли показать ему наши знамения. Воистину, Бог — слушатель, провидец (см. )».

Здесь короткий экскурс по Кибла к Иерусалиму представляется незаменимым. Действительно, Иерусалимское святилище в его функции как ритуальной ориентации — как фокус воображаемого пространства, доступного в молитве — не развивалось в сознании молодой исламской общины в случайное время. Скорее, он появился на этапе развития, когда благодаря сложному процессу новой ориентации происходило замечательное расширение горизонтов молодой общины как с точки зрения времени, так и пространства. Таким образом, «удаленное святилище», столь наводящее на размышления в его топографической и исторической обстановке, может стать сильным символом. Один ¶ может осмелиться предположить, что иерусалимская кибла стала жестоким выражением глубоко ощущаемого опыта получения новых духовных горизонтов.

Вместе две новые новизны — недавно достигнутая конвергенция куранских откровений с писаниями двух других монотеистических религий и одновременное принятие топографической сакра более ранних религий создали новое самосознание для молодого исламского сообщества. Это новое самосознание больше не основывалось прежде всего на обрядах, практикуемых в Каабе, но на новом сознании быть среди приемников и носителей Священного Писания и, таким образом, иметь долю в памяти истории спасения, перевозиться путем написания (см. книгу). Ян Ассманн (Das kulturelle Gedächtnis) придумал фразу для такого типа изменения ориентации, «переход общества от ритуальной согласованности к текстовой последовательности». Своим же жестом кибла, ориентированная на Иерусалим, указывает на это новое соединение между формирующимся исламским сообществом и более старыми религиями. Поэтому неудивительно, что куранские намеки на святилище Меккан и его обряды в качестве предыдущих гарантов социальной согласованности (Нойвирт, Изображения и метафоры) — аллюзии, вплоть до этого момента, настолько многочисленны во вводных частях Мекканских сур — вскоре были заменены стереотипным вводным восклицанием книги (al-kitāb), который теперь признан самым значительным общим духовным владением. Образы, которые теперь появляются во вводных разделах суры, книги и её реквизитах, недвусмысленно указывают на осознание того, что поток традиций зашел в тупик и теперь доступен с помощью письменных средств. Это была новая форма памяти, которая вскоре проникнет в повседневную ритуальную практику: сильная привязанность к знакомому месту, характерная для поклонения в Каабе, уступила место восприятию новой ситуации в духовном пространстве, что вышли далеко за горизонты унаследованных обрядов в мир и историю других, детей Израиля (Бану Исраил).

В то время как в самых ранних сурах было мало мест, которые считались заслуживающими внимания, за исключением Мекки и пустынных мест Аравии, с этого момента до эмиграции (хиджры) — за исключением 17-го — никто не находит никаких дополнительных ссылок на Мекку в сурах. Вместо этого «благословенная земля» вводится как пространство, в котором угнетенный верующий может укрыться и где большинство пророков работало. Суры достигают высшей точки в неоднократном обращении к примерам, которые вернулись в историю духовных предков, детей Израиля (Бану Исраил). Иерусалим является центральным святилищем пространства, отмеченного этим писанием, и, таким образом, путем написания. Все молитвы тяготеют к Иерусалиму как к их естественному предназначению, и к Иерусалиму поклонник поворачивает свое лицо в молитве.

Внутреннее изгнание, о котором уже сделано в § 73:10, «часть из них в приятной манере» (uhjurhum hajran jamīlā), должна была завершиться территориальной ссылкой. Как заметил Крэгг («Событие», 126), «для столь важного и формирующего события Коран неожиданно не имеет прямого прямого упоминания», единственный явный отрывок об эмиграции (хиджре), возможно, в 9: 40-1. Однако переход из Мекки не определён; это предсказывает движение против Мекки, которое последует через десять лет и духовное восстановление знакомого пространства святилища Меккан до того времени.

Библейские сайты заменены // появление Мекки в качестве второго Иерусалима

Когда мы достигаем периода Мединана, мы находим предопределенную траекторию из знакомой, но теперь запрещенной и запрещающей ¶ ден-Мекку, к «отдаленному» воображаемому святилищу Иерусалима, ставящему под сомнение.

Оставив отдаленную воображаемую родину — восстановление полуострова

Именно в этот период предпринимается попытка урегулировать антагонизм между местными еврейскими племенами и мединскими общинами и несовместимость соперничающей ложной памяти, двух топографических таинств, Иерусалима со святой землей, с одной стороны, и Мекка с ландшафтом Ḥijazi, с другой, стала очевидной. Таким образом, места, ранее несущие парадигматические воспоминания, становятся локусами амбивалентных событий: гора Синай теперь изображается как место, где Дети Израиля не смогли выполнить божественное повеление (q 2: 63-4, 93; 4: 153-5; 7: 171). Иерусалим не совсем по-другому. Повторное открытие Мекки в качестве основного направления стремления изгнанников в Медине произошло примерно через два года после эмиграции, и задокументировано в q 2: 142-4: "Дураки из числа людей скажут: " Что оказалось их от их прежней кибла? "Скажите: " Богу принадлежит восток (альмашрик) и запад (аль-магриб). Он направляет их к прямому пути (ṣirāṭ mustaqīm). "… Мы видели поворот вашего лица (т. Мухаммад] до небес. Теперь мы заставим вас обратиться к вам, которая вам дорога. Поверните свое лицо к неприкосновенному святилищу (альмасид аль-Шарам) и [мусульманам], где бы вы ни были, поверните свои лица к нему ". Духовное возвращение поклонников в Каабу в Мекке, объявленной в этих стихах, вытесняет Иерусалим из центр. Ритуальная переориентация в пространстве (см. Ритуал и qur'ān), выраженная таким доминирующим жестом в поклонении, не должна восприниматься как простой религиозно-политический шаг, но, по-видимому, отражает реальность подлинной смены духовного тоска. Мекка смогла заменить Иерусалим, потому что память, разделенная с детьми Израиля (Banū Isrā'll) со стороны общины Мединанов, была в какой-то степени подорвана новым опытом территориальной ссылки, в которой центральное святилище Меккана значительно увеличилось в символической ценности ,

Мекка к тому времени пережила существенные изменения. Он стал интегрирован в ту определённую форму памяти, которая транспортируется средством письма, которое мы могли бы идентифицировать с библейской традицией, — и это дало ему ранг места, отмеченного значительным эпизодом истории спасения. Это стало центральным местом карьеры библейского героя, самого Авраама. Инаугурационная молитва Авраама Каабы (q 2: 126 f.) Была по праву связана с молитвой Соломоновской инаугурации храма в Иерусалиме. В молитве Авраама святилище задумано не только как место паломничества для определённой группы, но и как знак, установленный для всего человечества:

И когда Авраам молился: "Господин мой! Сделайте эту страну безопасной (…) "Наш господин! Сделайте нас покорными вам (muslimīna laka) и сделайте народ покорным для вас из нашего семени "… / Наш господин! И воздвигните для них посланца из числа тех, кто прочитает их ваши знамения и научит их книге (kitāb) и мудрости (алхикма) и улучшит их (wa-yuzakkīhim) ".

В этой молитве Кааба выступает как памятник нового божественного фундамента. Ввиду своего авраамского происхождения он стал первым монотеистическим храмом (см. Q 3:96).

Согласно этой первой молитве, вербальное поклонение и чтение Священных Писаний будут проходить в этом святилище в дополнение к учредительным обрядам культа анкинов (см. Чтение курана). Молитва достигает своего исполнения с появлением пророка Мухаммада. Его миссия состоит в том, чтобы завершить сложную структуру ислама как религии, культ которой основан в равной степени на ритуальных и словесных элементах. Он приступил к чтению знамений Бога для общины и научил их Писанию (q 2: 129, yatlū'alayhim āyātika wa-yu’allimuhumu l-kitāb). Благодаря этому новому увеличению смысла, снова жизненно важная часть предыдущей ауры Иерусалима передана Мекке. Что было прерогативой Иерусалима, о чём свидетельствует пророк Исаия: «Закон выйдет из Сиона и слово Господа из Иерусалима» (Ис. 2: 3), наконец, получил Мекку.

Уникальность обрядов, происходящих в Мекке и санкционированных Кораном, воспринимается как временная до феномена откровения через Священные Писания, тесно связанные с Иерусалимом (см. ). Таким образом, только в конце развития qur’annic, после того, как Мекка была восстановлена, и её святилище наконец-то нашло дальнейшее закрепление в исламе, это окончате-льное утверждение установлено: «Разумеется, первый дом, основанный для людей, — это то, что в Бакке — благословенное и руководство всем существам» (инна авлала байтин wuḍi’a lil-nāsi la-lladhī bi-Bakkata mubārakan wa-hudan lil -'ālamīn, q 3:96).

Таким образом, канонический процесс Корана отражается не в последнюю очередь в меняющихся взглядах пространства, выра-женных в его географических представлениях. На первом этапе местное пространство, наполненное героической памятью или связанное с тоской по утраченному раю, было перекодировано в ложную память, напоминающую акты божественного милосер-дия и щедрости, а также гнев и отражение человеческого благочестия и послушания, но чаще восстание и упрямство. Позже, местное пространство, которое стало изгнанием, должно было быть расширено, чтобы охватить его воображаемую замену, топографическую сакра детей Израиля. Наконец, Мекка и полуостров ¶ сами приобрели библейские ассоциации и спасительные, а также историческую значимость, достаточные для получения звания божественной благословенной топографии новой религии.

Geography (12,059 words)
Article Table of Contents
General overview: geography of the Qurʾān
Mecca: general
Mecca’s market networks
Yathrib/al- Madīna
Geography in the Qurʾān: the pagan background of qurʾānic geographical representation
Notions of space in pre-Islamic poetry
Responses: the qurʾānic canonical process as reflected in the re-coding of the pagan notions of space
Aesthetically enjoyable space, symbolically significant space: the de-mythicizing of pagan heroic space
Copiousness of vegetation as a divine gift
Urban public space as a forum of meaningful social interaction
Restoring meaning to deserted space: the umam khāliya; reconstruction of space in terms of salvation historical lieux de mémoire
Exile and recovery of the familiar landscape: the «biblification» of pagan space
Mecca as a counterpart of biblical sites of revelation: the holy land and Jerusalem
Biblical sites substituted: Mecca’s emergence as a second Jerusalem
Leaving the remote imaginary homeland — the recovery of the peninsula
Bibliography

This entry starts with a short general overview of the geography of the Qurʾān, i.e. the geographical setting of the genesis of the text. It then proceeds to survey the geographical representations in the Qurʾān. As Kenneth Cragg (Event) has correctly pointed out, the events which are pivotal in the Qurʾān are located in a space shaped ¶ by pagan notions (see polytheism and atheism; south arabia, religion in pre-islamic). Geography in the Qurʾān thus appears constructed against the pre-qurʾānic Bedouin (q.v.) views of space transmitted in ancient Arabic poetry (see age of ignorance; poetry and poets). To make this background more intelligible, these pre-qurʾānic concepts need to be presented at least summarily. Subsequently, their de-mythicizing and re-coding in the qurʾānic urban context will be explored (see city). To this end, evidence about the developing «mental map» of the listeners will be collected, their changing perception of "local geography, " and their acquisition of a new understanding of physical geographical phenomena will be investigated. Spatial self-orientation is, of course, not necessarily bound to "real, " objective space, familiar from one’s own experience; it may point to imagined space as well. Both the real home of the listeners on the one hand, and the community’s imaginary home, i.e. the space of their spiritual yearning after the real home has turned into exile (see emigration), on the other, have to be given attention since the changing significance of particular sites and landscapes is apt to make the qurʾānic canonical process more transparent.

General overview // geography of the Qurʾān

The broader geographical framework of the Qurʾān is the Arabian peninsula. A specified historico-geographical map of the entire peninsula has been prepared in the framework of the Tübinger Atlas zum Vorderen Orient (TAVO) by Ulrich Rebstock: Islamic Arabia until the death of the Prophet. «This map presents the topographical setting of the nucleus of the Islamic empire that was emerging on the periphery of the Sasanian and Byzantine empires. It tries to reconstruct the process of the expansion of ‘ Islam,’ i.e. the ‘sub-¶ mission’ to its claim, on the basis of early Islamic geography and historiography. The identification and localization of important places serves as a kind of framework into which the social, economic, and religious developments are fitted. The main focus is on the political and military actions with which the ‘Muslims,’ operating first from Medina and then from Mecca, tried to break the opposition of the urban and tribal Arabian aristocracy. The subtly differentiated contracts of the ‘Muslims’ with members of other religious communities, with traditional tribal confederations and with tribes allied to other powers give an insight into the precarious situation of the Islamic community at the death of their Prophet.» (Rebstock, Islamic Arabia; see community and society in the qurʾān; economics; mecca; medina; expeditions and battles; tribes and clans; opposition to muḥammad.)

More precisely, however, the Ḥijāz is to be considered the Qurʾān’s land of origin. The Ḥijāz is defined as the mountain barrier that runs through the western side of the peninsula. Although exact application of topographical conceptions can be problematic, it may be roughly described as bordering the Syrian provinces in the north and, in the southwest, the highlands of ʿAsīr that separate it from the Yemen. The Red Sea lowlands of Tihāma are situated to its west. In the east, the Ḥijāz merges into the Najd plateau, the elevated land above the coastal plain, which is primarily steppe and desert. Rainfall in the Ḥijāz is very scanty, and water is retained only in a few areas of clay soil, thus allowing rural cultures to emerge. In the Qurʾān al-Ṭāʾif and Yathrib are among the most prominent of these rural cultures. Several trade routes ran through the Ḥijāz; the main north-south route, which connected the area with the Byzantine province of Syria, ran parallel to the Red Sea, passing ¶ through a chain of oases such as al- Mudāwara, Tabūk, al-Aʿlā and Yathrib. Although the Ḥijāz was not directly on the sea, seafaring Ethiopia (Bilād al-Ḥabash; see abyssinia), which was a commercial partner of pre-Islamic Mecca, and which, during Muḥammad’s career, became a temporary asylum for a group of his followers, was easily accessible through the Red Sea harbors of Shuʿayba or Jidda. Much more difficult were travel and transport eastward across the ḥarra (basalt desert, covered with stones from lava flow), where the roads passed through one of the two main valleys (wādīs) of the Najd, the Wādī l-Dawāsir or the Wādī l-Rumma, which runs across the plateau until entering the Euphrates plain at Baṣra (see iraq).

Mecca (general)

Among the cities of the peninsula, Mecca is certainly an exceptional case. It does not owe its importance to a vassal relationship with a mighty power as did al-Ḥīra, located on the border of Sasanian territory, nor is it a rural oasis city such as neighboring al-Ṭāʾif or the more distant Medīna. Situated in the Ḥijāz about seventy two kilometers inland from the Red Sea at 21°27′ north latitude and 39°49′ east longitude, Mecca is a barren place lying in a valley known as wādī or baṭn Makka, surrounded by steep, rocky mountain ranges. A number of side-valleys, known as shiʿb, converge at its lowest part, the Baṭḥāʾ, where settlement started and where the Kaʿba (q.v.) is located. Mecca’s nearest neighboring city, at a distance of approximately fifty kilometers to the east, was the rural oasis al-Ṭāʾif, a place that seems to have been closely associated with Mecca since, according to the exegetical tradition, q 43:31 refers to both with the joint eponym al- qaryatāni. The next important city was Yathrib, at 350 kilometers to the north of Mecca. Rainfall in the region ¶ of Mecca is scant and irregular. When occurring at all, the rains may be violent and cause torrents which pour down the valleys towards the ḥaram . The supply of water (q.v.) depended on wells and cisterns (see wells and springs; springs and fountains).

Mecca’s sanctuary must have existed from very ancient times; it is apparently the site intended by Ptolemy when he notes the existence of a place called Macoraba. The qurʾānic narrative that ascribes its foundation to Abraham (q.v.) and Ishmael (q.v.) may have already been promulgated in ḥanīf (q.v.) circles before Islam. The ḥaram, Mecca’s temenos, was composed of a variety of holy objects and holy sites (see forbidden; sanctity and the sacred; house, domestic and divine). The completely unadorned and roughly built structure of the Kaʿba is reported to have hosted a number of idols (see idols and images) that were later removed by Muḥammad. Embedded in the southeastern side of the Kaʿba was the black stone, al- ḥajar. Beside the building there was the Zamzam well. Loosely attached to the Kaʿba was the ḥijr, a low semicircular wall that extended from one of the faces of the building. In addition, there was the Station of Abraham, sometimes described as another stone, sometimes as a particular site, and even on occasion equated with the entire ḥaram . The pre-Islamic ḥaram known to Muḥammad at Mecca was not an imposing place; it was little more than a clearing, with the Kaʿba in its midst, the extent of which was marked off only by the exterior walls of the houses of Meccan merchants huddled closely around it.

Any effort to survey the modern academic analysis of the historical developments prior to or contemporary with the emergence of Islam is severely complicated by the controversy surrounding scholarly views of the value of the data presented by ¶ traditional Islamic sources. On one end of the spectrum stands W. Montgomery Watt’s presentation (Muhammad at Mecca, Muhammad at Medina) which reconstructs the early developments from the data of the Islamic sources in an attempt to relate the material to the qurʾānic evidence itself. On the other end there is Patricia Crone’s wholesale rejection (Meccan trade and the rise of Islam) of any such endeavor in view of the discrepancies between the secondary literature and the primary sources and of conflicting information within the sources. Although Crone has argued convincingly that Meccan trade was much more limited in extent than hitherto held hypotheses would admit, her more general conclusion is open to debate: «It is at all events the impact of Byzantium and Persia on Arabia that ought to be at the forefront of research on the rise of the new religion, not Meccan trade» (Crone, Meccan trade, 250). This statement, and the hypothesis that «Muḥammad mobilized the Jewish (see jews and judaism) version of monotheism against that of dominant Christianity (see christians and christianity) and used it for the self-assertion, both ideological and military, of his own people» (ibid., 248), appear to neglect the development reflected in the self-referential parts of the Qurʾān itself. These self-referential texts relate the qurʾānic change in the paradigm of moral values (see ethics and the qurʾān) to a new perception of space in terms of urban structures; moreover they present the scenario of an ongoing argument between believers and pagans rather than between believers and Christians. These features corroborate much of the mainstream, traditional Islamic picture of the social and political developments in Arabia during the early seventh century rather than the revisionist reconstructions. The following survey of Mecca’s situation contemporary with the emergence of the com-¶ munity closely follows the arguments of a non-partisan study that — very much in accordance with Albrecht Noth’s research (Früher Islam) — seeks to associate qurʾānic references with the traditional Islamic reports, reviewing both from a modern sociological vantage point, namely Gottfried Müller’s «Das Problem des integrativen Zusammenhangs periodisch stattfindender Märkte auf der Arabischen Halbinsel im Jahrhundert vor dem Islam.»

Mecca’s market networks

Traditional reports have been reconstructed by Müller to form the following picture: Mecca was founded as a city about 400 c.e. when the tribal coalition of Quraysh (q.v.) started to become more sedentary. In contrast to the Ghassānids, al-Ḥīra and the Ḥimyar, who had remained vassals to the great powers, i.e. the Persians, the Byzantines and the Abyssinians, Mecca had succeeded in creating independent forms of political and social organization after the Meccan clan of ʿAbd Manāf was privileged to act as an agent of those powers in long distance trade across the Arabian peninsula. The sedentarization of the clans of Quraysh implied that the formerly segmented administration of power which lay with rather autonomous family groups became centralized in the institution of the malaʾ, an urban assembly of notables that exercised leadership over the various family groupings. Mecca of the mid-sixth century presents itself as a society in which the political, economic and religious levels of organization were embodied in diverse institutions with individual functions complementing each other. Blood ties (see kinship) as a common denominator thus lost significance and individual people were able to use their political and economic acumen to build networks of commercial partners. They could thus domi-¶ nate the life of their community over a period of time, themselves embodying the common interests of the city. At the same time, in the realm of religious beliefs, the cults of family groups were marginalized in favor of that of a single deity who sacralized the order of the city-state entity. This process reduced interactions with the tribal gods — now down-graded to form part of a pantheon associated with the main deity — to merely marginal rituals practiced for pragmatic reasons. This development led to a sharpening of the antagonism that existed between Mecca and the local tribal groups outside Mecca and supported the integrative political, social and religious organization of its urban coherence.

On the cultic level, a parallel development took place. With the formation of an urban administration, the formerly tribal sanctuary of the Kaʿba gained a privileged status whereas the other sanctuaries increasingly lost their independent local signification, finally becoming subordinate to the exclusive ḥaram of Quraysh. The cultic invocation (talbiya) of Quraysh clearly expresses this state of affairs: Labbayka Allāhumma labbayk/innanā laqāḥ/ḥumatunā ʿalā asinnati l-rimāḥ/yaḥsudūnanā l-nāsu ʿalā l-najāḥ ("Here we are, O God, here we are/we are sperm/our sting is on the tips of our spears/people begrudge us our success, " Ibn Ḥabīb, al-Muḥabbar, 315). According to this view, it is the exclusiveness of the cult at the Kaʿba that contrasts with the practices at the other sanctuaries which were integrated, as subordinate elements, into an encompassing cultic context. The particular position of the ḥaram and the obligations pertaining to the cult of the Kaʿba (not to that at ʿArafa, pace Wellhausen, Reste, 85) constitute the «ferment» of the tribal confederation known under the common name of ḥums that was established in the mid-sixth century (see ¶ treaties and alliances). It comprised the inhabitants of Mecca and individual tribes from different regions of the peninsula (Khuzāʿa, Kināna) who controlled the markets of their territories and who had acquired a kind of overarching identity. The counterpart of this alliance was the confederation of the ḥilla which subsumed those tribes that, although participating in the Meccan trade, constituted political and economic partners of only minor import for the prosperity of the city. These tribes addressed their deities with cultic invocations (talbiya) of their own and celebrated their rites at a site of their own, ʿArafa, located approximately ten kilometers east of Mecca. In contrast to Mecca, this space is considered ḥill, i.e. profane space. It is there that the ḥilla tribes performed their ḥajj before being allowed to enter the Meccan ḥaram (see pilgrimage). The rites at ʿArafa are in stark contrast to those of the ḥums at the ḥaram; the ḥums distinguished themselves from the ḥilla through particular prohibitions to be respected during their ceremonies. These prohibitions rendered vital aspects of nomadic life taboo (see nomads), such as basic nomadic nourishment, dwelling in tents (see tents and tent pegs), wearing particular clothes made of materials produced by cattle breeders (see hides and fleece; clothing) and performing the custom of the ṭawāf around the Kaʿba naked or without footwear. These and other prohibitions were not binding for the ḥilla tribes and thus were likely to separate the Meccan sedentary population from their nomadic past and to solidify, through recourse to cultic-cultural references, their adherence to urban life. With particular prohibitions of this kind the ḥums express their consciousness of being chosen, the offspring of Abraham: naḥnu banū ibrāhīma wa-ahlu l-ḥurma wa-wulātu l-bayt wa-quṭṭānu makka wa-sukkānuhā fa-laysa li-aḥadin mina l-ʿarabi¶ mithlu ḥaqqinā wa-lā mithlu manzilatinā ("We are the children of Abraham and the people of the ḥurma and the protectors of the house and the residents of Mecca and its inhabitants, and none of the Arabs have anything like our rights or our high rank, " Ibn Ḥabīb, al-Munammaq, 143). The Meccan way of life has become an urban way of life.

Three major market sites — ʿUkāẓ, Majanna and Dhū l-Majāz, whose religious significance as tribal sanctuaries decreased when confronted with the commercial and centralizing functions of the Meccan ḥaram — were situated southeast of Mecca on the way to the oasis of al-Ṭāʾif. These sites were not populated except during market days (see markets). Their precise dates, known as the mawāsim al- ḥajj, relied on the time of year and constituted the integral part of the ḥajj of the ḥilla tribes to ʿArafa during the three sacred months. Through the economic link with the long distance commerce of the Meccans, the mawāsim al-ḥajj constituted the most relevant regional commercial context of the peninsula. The sequence followed a strict plan culminating in the ḥajj of ʿArafa: Dhū l-Qaʿda 1-20: market at ʿUkāẓ, Dhū al-Qaʿda 21-29: Majanna; Dhū l-Ḥijja 1-8: Dhū l-Majāz, Dhū l-Ḥijja 9: ḥajj at ʿArafa, Dhū l-Ḥijja 10: ijāza, the ceremonial permission to enter the Meccan ḥaram, and Dhū l-Ḥijja 10-13: ʿīd al-aḍḥā in Minā, again outside the Meccan ḥaram . Although these markets were situated in districts belonging to particular tribes, they could become external stations for Meccan commerce since those tribes were integrated into the pro-Qurashī ḥums system.

According to Müller (Zum Problem), this Ḥijāzī market system, thanks to the re-interpretation of the ritual practices of the ḥajj as politico-economic activities and the construction of a ḥums-ḥilla antagonism, was subjected to Meccan control. This ¶ system did not exist in isolation from further market activities, but constituted the nucleus of a second more comprehensive market system, a sequence of regional markets which covered vast regions of the peninsula.

Yathrib/al- Madīna

Medina lies at 24°28′ north latitude, 39°36′ east longitude, about 160 kilometers from the Red Sea and some 350 kilometers north of Mecca. It developed from an oasis, surrounded on the southeast and west by ḥarra lands, i.e. lava flows. Several wādīs, whose fairly high water table warrants a number of wells and springs, cross the oasis from south to north. Medina, named Yathrib in q 33:13, is attested by Ptolemy and Stephanus Byzantinus as Iathrippa, and appears as Yathrib in Minaean inscriptions. Al-Madīna, an Aramaic loan word, means "the town, " or place of jurisdiction. Apart from ten qurʾānic occurrences as a common noun, it figures in four relatively late verses — q 9:101, 120; 33:60, 63:8 — as referring to the oasis when it was inhabited mainly by Muslims. Medina emerged from a loose collection of scattered settlements, surrounded by groves of date palms (see date palm) and cultivated fields. Characteristic features were a number of strongholds (āṭām, sing. uṭum) serving as a refuge in times of danger. In earlier times, the place had been primarily populated by Jewish clans, three of whom — Qurayẓa, al- Naḍīr and Qaynuqāʾ — still played a dominant role at the time of the emigration of Muḥammad and his followers from Mecca (hijra). The first two cultivated particularly fertile land in the oasis, while the third, in addition to conducting a market, were armorers and goldsmiths. Some of them may have arrived in the course of the migrations caused by the defeat of Bar Kokhba, others might have been Arab ¶ converts. Though not politically united by their religion, in q 2:47 f. they claim to be of Hebrew descent. The earlier Jewish domination of Medina came to an end when two large Arab groups, al- Aws and al-Khazraj, who are said to have left South Arabia after the bursting of the dam of Maʾrib, came to settle in Yathrib. Although they were initially under the protection of the Jewish groups, they later gained the upper hand; the Jewish groups, however, retained a measure of independence.

For at least fifty years before the emigration(hijra), a series of blood-feuds had occurred between the Arab groups, behind which there may have been an economic factor. The disruption of social order in Medina was a decisive factor leading the Arabs of Medina to invite Muḥammad to join them. On two occasions, some early converts arranged for an agreement with Muḥammad; and, as a result of the last of these agreements, the bayʿat al-ḥarb, concluded in 622 c.e., some seventy of Muḥammad’s Meccan followers, together with their dependents, emigrated to Medina in small groups. Muḥammad arrived last, reaching al-Qubāʿ in the south of the oasis on 12 Rabīʿ I (24 September 622).

Geography in the Qurʾān // the pagan background of qurʾānic geographical representation

It is noteworthy that the Qurʾān, in contrast to ancient Arabic poetry, avoids the explicit naming of topographical data. Only very few exceptions, mostly late, can be adduced. Mecca, for instance, is often evoked through its sanctuary (al- bayt al-maʿmūr, q 52:4; al- masjid al-ḥarām, q 2:144, 149, 150, 191, 196, 217; 5:2; 8:34; 9:7, 19, 28; 17:1; 22:25; 48:25, 28), or through its role as the hometown of the listener(s) (qaryatuka or qaryatukum, q 47:13) or as the metropolis par excellence (umm al- qurā, q 6:92), but is eventually explicitly named twice: at ¶ q 48:24(Makka) and q 3:96(Bakka). Equally in Medinan times, the two places of pilgrimage, al-Ṣafā and al-Marwa, are named in q 2:158, Yathrib is named in q 33:13. Two battlefields (see expeditions and battles) of early Islam, Badr (q.v.), a small place situated southwest of Medīna (q 3:123) and Ḥunayn (q.v.), one day’s journey from Mecca on the way to al-Ṭāʾif (q 9:25), are recalled in a late text. Jerusalem (q.v.) is evoked through its sanctuary (al- masjid al-aqṣā in q 17:1 and simply al-masjid in q 17:7) or there is allusion to it through a location within its temple (al- miḥrāb, q 3:37, 39; 19:11; 38:21). Sodom and Gomorra are evoked through al-muʾtafikāt (q 9:70; 69:9; cf. al- muʾtafika, q 53:53).

The striking scarcity of place names may be explained by the fact that real social space is perceived during the early Meccan periods less from an empirical viewpoint, as a stage for worldly human interaction, than from an eschatological perspective (see eschatology), as a multiply-staged forum of debate where divine truth should emerge victorious. It is only later, in Medinan times, that places turn into territories that need to be controlled and must thus be marked by unambiguous names. Changing notions of space, therefore, can be taken as milestones in the qurʾānic canonical process (see collection of the qurʾān; codification of the qurʾān; form and structure of the qurʾān).

The Qurʾān in statu nascendi addresses a public that is accustomed to listening to recitals of texts which present the human condition in terms very different from the qurʾānic presentation, recitals which are preserved in the extensive corpus of pre-Islamic Arabic poetry. It must be assumed that this textual world of the ancient poets was familiar not only to the pre-Islamic listeners, but to later Arab converts as well. The ancient poets are thus in no way isolable from the Qurʾān. On the contrary, the ¶ Qurʾān itself presents a response to them. Although far more interested in «the presence, the example and the provocation of the antecedent Semitic religions» (Cragg, Event, 15), Western scholarship has paid tribute to diverse aspects of this encounter (Farrukh, Das Bild), even claiming that ancient poetry provides the «spiritual background» for the Qurʾān (Bravmann, Spiritual background). Scholars have moreover acknowledged the achievement of the Qurʾān’s re-coding (Izutsu, God and man) of the world imagined in poetry into a new paradigm of ethical values, stressing the dialectical relation (Montgomery, Poetry) that exists between the two realms of thinking. But although the qurʾānic construction of real and imaginary space is certainly one of the most important achievements in the context of the turn from paganism to Islam, no extensive study has been undertaken regarding the qurʾānic geographical representation of both the Arabian habitat and the biblical sites (see scripture and the qurʾān).

Notions of space in pre-Islamic poetry
Deserted space

The pre-qurʾānic literary paradigm implies a perception of space as a challenge to humans, because it is not at their disposal. Not seldom does it present itself as "embattled space, " demanding to be recovered by the Bedouin hero. Yet, even when space is not viewed in such a dynamic context but is presented in a more static way, it does not appear as an integral part of the poetical speaker’s natural habitat; rather, it appears as an entity deprived of actual life and haunted by loss. Nonetheless, the role of topography in ancient poetry is striking, particularly when the poet in pre-Islamic (jāhilī, see age of ignorance) poetry’s main genre, the qaṣīda, chooses to start his speech with an elegiac « aṭlāl-section» in which a broken-off love relation is remem-¶ bered. He invests much diligence in describing the detailed features of the natural space where he finds himself, having come to a halt at a deserted campsite to recall a beloved of the past. The picture he designs to frame his first entrance does not, however, express enjoyment of nature or aesthetic delight in its extraordinary traits, but rather portrays the search for the reconstruction of the lost shape («Gestalt») of that space that was formerly replete with fulfilling social interaction but has meanwhile decayed and become disfigured through climatic influences. It is the poet who has to give space its distinctive features, to make it speak again — a situation which sometimes induces him to address the place, literally begging it to answer him. Some verses from the famous nasīb of Labīd’s Muʿallaqa (vv. 1, 2, 10) serve well to illustrate this:


Effaced are the abodes, brief encampments and long-settled ones/at Minā the wilderness has claimed Mount Ghawl and Mount Rijām(ʿafati l-diyāru maḥalluhā fa-muqāmuhā/bi-minan taʾabbada ghawluhā fa-rijāmuhā).

Dung-darkened patches over which, since they were peopled,/years elapsed. Their profane months and sacred ones have passed away (dimanun tajarrama baʿda ʿahdi anīsihā/ḥijajun khalawna ḥalāluhā wa-ḥarāmuhā).

Then I stopped and questioned them, but how do we question/mute immortals whose speech is indistinct? (fa-waqaftu asʾaluhā wa-kayfa suʾālunā/ṣumman khawālida mā yabīnu kalāmuhā, trans. Stetkevych, Mute immortals, 9).

When scenes of idyllic group life are introduced, these are staged in the animal realm rather than the human, thus stress-¶ ing the feeling of deprivation suffered by the poet who is in a state of loss regarding erotic and matrimonial fulfillment (see e.g. Labīd’s Muʿallaqa, vv. 6-7).

Although space is presented as empty and desolate, the location tends to be very determinate. Place names abound (Thilo, Die Ortsnamen). Places are marked and are still recognizable as having been previously peopled, as lieux de mémoire, places of remembrance and yearning, though blurred and deserted at the time the poet speaks, and no longer milieux of human interaction. Geographical representation is thus in stark contrast to the physical absence of those for whom such representation is intended. It is further striking — as Hamori has noted (The art, 18) — that «in the aṭlāl scene, time present has no effective contents to speak of.» The desertedness of space is not due to any historical event relevant to the present, but to the seasonal practices of the camel breeding tribes, who only in the winter and spring, when water resources were sufficient, would roam the desert freely with their camels, but with the beginning of the drought, would retreat to their own permanent sources of water. These exigencies thus limited longer-term encounters between members of different tribes to short periods and pre-determined the break-off of personal relations after short durations. Only rarely is the extinction of the traces of the encampment explained by phenomena which are beyond mere seasonally imposed needs, as in the verses of ʿAbīd (18.2-3; Caskel, Das Schicksal, 45).

Embattled space

Although the world of the pre-Islamic listeners to poetry appears well-mapped, place-names being adduced frequently and playing a prominent role in the initial part of the qaṣīda, and, although a sharp realization of physical-geographical phenom-¶ ena can be attested, the relation of man to space appears to be tense. The pagan poet or more precisely his persona, the Bedouin hero, has to re-conquer space over and over again in order to meet the ideals of muruwwa and thus fulfill his role as an exemplary member of tribal society. Risky expeditions undertaken by the hero through most inhospitable areas and adventurous rides under extreme climatic conditions are among the stock topics of the closing part, the fakhr, of the ancient Arabian qaṣīda. One of the most famous testimonies of this poetical self-image — though in this case going back not to a tribally integrated poet, but rather to an outlaw — are certainly the triumphal final verses of al-Shanfarā's Lāmiyyat al-ʿarab:


I have crossed deserts bare as the back of a shield, where no traveler’s beast sets foot(wa-kharqin ka-ẓahri l-tursi qafrin qaṭāʿtuhu/bi-ʿāmilatayni ẓahruhu laysa yuʿmalū).

I tied one end of the waste to the other, squatting or standing on a peak (wa-alḥaqtu ūlāhu bi-ukhrāhu mūfiyan/ʿalā qunnatin uqʿī marāran wa-amthulū).

While the dark yellow mountain goats come and go about me like maidens in trailing garments (tarūdu l-arāwī l-ṣuḥmu ḥawlī ka-annahā/ʿadhārin ʿalayhinna l-mulāʿu l-mudhayyalū),

Until at dusk they stand about me, motionless, as if I were a white-legged, crook-horned one, with a twist in the legs, a scaler of summits (wa-yarkudna bi-l-āṣāli ḥawlī ka-annanī/mina l-ʿuṣmi adfā yantaḥī l-kīḥa aʿqalū, trans. Hamori, The art, 30).

Indeed, with only a slight exaggeration it might be held that space, being among those inimical elements that permanently threaten man is, in view of its momentum, ¶ one of the manifestations of fate (al- manāyā, al- manūn, al- dahr, see fate; time; destiny) itself. The Bedouin hero, who does not find himself in a position of mastery over his habitat, but has to empower himself over and over again to defy his most threatening enemy, the all-consuming fate, does so in many instances by venturing into dangerous space. Space and fate are frequently viewed as closely related, such as a verse by ʿUrwa b. al-Ward (Caskel, Das Schicksal, 21) attests:


Many a gray (desert) where perishing is feared/where the traveler is threatened by the ropes of fate (I have crossed; wa-ghabrāʾa makhshiyin radāhā makhūfatin/akhūhā bi-asbābi l-manāyā mugharrarū).

Space, thus, is often presented as the site of a battlefield, a scene of human strife for self-assertion against threatening nature. Not least through his recollection of "special conquests, " could the Bedouin hero counterbalance the resignation-inspiring view of man as an easy prey to the haphazard assaults of the anonymous powers of nature, and thus contribute vitally to the coherence of his tribal society.

«The old Arabic qaṣīda was both sensuous and logical as it faced al-dahr, time and mutability which unconcerned with human conduct and human reason govern the world. In a morally capricious universe, the heroic model allowed a view of the totality of experience as balanced and coherent. To achieve balance, the speaker of the qaṣīda offers himself to the voluntary experience of fullness as well as emptiness, of gain as well as loss» (Hamori, The art, 29).

Responses (the qurʾānic canonical process as reflected in the re-coding of the pagan notions of space)

As against the heroic attitude of man towards space as displayed in poetry, the ¶ early qurʾānic revelations present earthly space as particularly inspiring of confidence. They present it as a locus of pleasure and enjoyment, as a venue for the reception of divine bounty and as a site of ethically-charged social interaction.

Aesthetically enjoyable space, symbolically significant space // the de-mythicizing of pagan heroic space

An early and dominant image is that of a well preserved tent, allowing man to repose, to enjoy matrimonial life, as well as to pursue his daily activities in a peaceful and self-confident way. q 78:6-16 strongly reminds one of some psalms (q.v.) of praise which interpret worldly space as a secure housing for the created beings: «Have we not made the earth an expanse, and the mountains bulwarks? And created you in pairs (see creation)? And appointed your sleep as repose, and the night as a cloak (see clothing; day and night), and the day for livelihood? And built above you seven strong [heavens; see heaven and sky ]?» (a-lam najʿali l-arḍa mihādā/wal-jibāla awtādā/wa-khalaqnākum azwājā/wa-jaʿalnā nawmakum subātā/wa-jaʿalnā l-layla libāsā/wa-jaʿalnā l-nahāra maʿāshā/wa-banaynā fawqakum sabʿan shidādā). Worldly space, then, is a divine grace demanding gratitude (shukr, see gratitude and ingratitude), a present that inspires forms of worship (q.v.) which, in turn, will enhance the coherence of the relationship between God and humankind. There is a whole qurʾānic genre of hymnic praises of divine omnipotence, the so-called āyāt, «signs» (q.v.; Neuwirth, Studien; Graham, «The winds») that rely on the very notion that the earth has been equipped with diverse means to make human life easy and pleasant (e.g. "God sent water down from the heavens and enlivened the earth with it after its death, " q 16:65: wa-llāhu anzala mina l-samāʾi māʾan fa-aḥyā bihi l-arḍa baʿda¶ mawtihā). The revivification of the earth that seemed dead is a sign of divine providence: «Have you not seen God send water down from the heavens and the earth become green the next day?» (q 22:63: a-lam tara anna llāha anzala mina l-samāʾi māʾan fa-tuṣbiḥu l-arḍu mukhḍarratan). The picture seems to reflect that of a rural oasis, such as al-Ṭāʾif or Yathrib: «We have showered down water, then split the earth in clefts, and made the grain to grow therein, and grapes and green fodder, and olive trees and date palms, and garden groves, and fruits and grasses, provision for you and your cattle» (q 80:25-32: annā ṣababnā l-māʾa ṣabbā/thumma shaqaqnā l-arḍa shaqqā fa-anbatnā fīhā ḥabbā/wa-ʿinaban wa-qaḍbā/wa-zaytūnan wa-nakhlā/wa-ḥadāʾiqa ghulbā/wa-fākihatan wa-abbā/matāʿan lakum wa-lianʿāmikum). These descriptions, of course, are not devoid of a symbolic dimension. The image of the dead land miraculously revived is evoked not least to provide an empirically evident antecedent for the divine power of reviving the dead that contradicts empirical verisimility. The idea is therefore central not only to the early sūras (see q 79:27-33) but is reiterated over and over again in later phases (q 22:5; 50:9-11; 57:17; 41:38-9).


Early Meccan descriptions like these do not solely convey the message of divine omnipotence, freeing a man from his burden to fight for his survival, a dominant theme of pre-Islamic poetry (see freedom and predestination). Their objective is more far-reaching: the entire paradigm within which a man’s self-respect was dependent on his achievements (which, in Meccan terms, might have been manifested in commercial success), was to be redefined. The focus shifts: from the human person being the sole agent in the process of restoring meaning to life, attention is turned towards created nature which displays divinely granted abundance ¶ (see blessing; grace). God appears as the decisive agent in the process of restoring meaning to life, communicating his message through aesthetically understandable phenomena. The addressee is — not unlike the situation of ancient Arabian poetry — the community. Be it the image of the firm land or the image of the sea (baḥr, cf. q 16:4; 25:54-5; 35:12, baḥrān; cf. Barthold, Der Koran und das Meer), humankind is taught to rejoice in a divinely adorned cosmos which simultaneously manifests a new paradigm of social coherence.

Copiousness of vegetation as a divine gift

It is hardly astonishing that vegetation plays a significant role in conveying the image of the world as a hospitable realm of human life (see agriculture and vegetation). The vegetation in the Qurʾān has been meticulously surveyed by Arne Ambros (Gestaltung und Funktionen). His presentation is very helpful for present purposes as it provides an insight to the listeners' perception of local, imagined and even transcendental landscapes; it will thus be summarized in the following. The Qurʾān offers no less than eleven detailed depictions of earthly vegetation. They are distributed over the entire corpus of the Qurʾān, figuring equally in the context of salvation (q.v.) history — located outside the peninsula — and in the reality of the listeners' present situation on the peninsula. Their frequency in relation to the scarcity of depictions of the fauna (for which only q 16:5-8 could be adduced) points to the listeners' relationship towards the realm of plants as being basically different from that towards the realm of animals (see animal life). An important element of this relationship is the delight in the beauty of plants; they are often viewed without regard to their usefulness.

One of the three main themes that ¶ accommodate vegetation is the description of plants as a testimony to the bounty of God (no less than forty occurrences). The second theme is the perception of the permanent threat to which plants are subject in view of abrupt climatic changes and the scarcity of water supplies — an observation that often evokes the transitory nature of all beings. This theme unfolds thirteen times and in five of these both the first and the second themes are combined. The third theme is the diversity of vegetation in nature. This topic sometimes erupts in exclamations of admiration and delight never found in conjunction with descriptions of the animal world.

The most frequently mentioned locus of vegetation is certainly the garden (q.v.; janna), which also denotes an other-worldly garden. Particular plants that are grown in a garden are named, such as date palms and vines (q 2:266; 17:91; 23:19; 36:34). Janna thus is not to be imagined as a merely ornamental garden, but rather as a plantation, a «garden from which one eats» (q 25:8). The earthly garden is therefore a possession that permits a good living or even wealth (q.v.). Whereas rawḍa — a place with copious vegetation, a garden or a meadow — in the Qurʾān denotes only the paradisaical (see paradise) abode, ḥadīqa appears as a locale where copious plants, among them trees (q.v.), are to be found (q 27:60; 80:30). In contradistinction, the qurʾānic ḥarth is a place where primarily cereals grow. It is presented in q 3:14 as a possession desirable to humans. Associated with toil, ḥarth never appears in descriptions of paradise. It does serve, however, as a metaphor for the constraints that are demanded from humans as qualification for admission to the paradisaical afterlife: «Whoever desires the harvest(ḥarth) of the hereafter, we increase its harvest for him; but whoever desires the har-¶ vest of the world, we give it to him, but he has no part of the hereafter» (q 42:20, man kāna yurīdu ḥartha l-ākhirati nazid lahu fī ḥarthihi wa-man kāna yurīdu ḥartha l-dunyā nuʾtihi minhā wa-mā lahu fī l-ākhirati min naṣīb). Remnants of mythical thinking are reflected in a ḥarth metaphor in q 2:223: «Your wives are your ḥarth, so approach your ḥarth as you wish» (nisāʾukum ḥarthun lakum fa-ʾtū ḥarthakum annā shiʾtum). The lexeme zarʿ (pl. zurūʿ) denotes sown plants. In view of its association with hard work, like ḥarth it is confined to worldly contexts; when it occurs in the singular form, zarʿ, it is synonymous with nabāt, the most frequent context being praise of divine care and providence (q 6:141; 16:11; 32:27; 39:21). It is noteworthy that the region around Mecca is called in a prayer of Abraham the «valley with no existence of zarʿ,» (wādi ghayr dhī zarʿ, q 14:37), or an uncultivable area, a wasteland.

The benefits to be made from vegetation are manifest in fruit. The least concrete notion seems to be thamar, «fruit.» It is only once specified, in q 16:67: «fruits of palms and vines» (thamarāt al-nakhīl wa-l-aʿnāb). Used in the plural form, it encompasses all kinds of fruit — including those of the fields — and usually denotes the normal means of subsistence that is granted by God, but is liable to be taken away by him whenever he pleases (cf. q 2:22; 14:32: "he sends water down from the sky and through it makes fruit spring up for you as a blessing[ rizqan], " anzala mina l-samāʾi māʾan fa-akhraja bihi mina l-thamarāti rizqan lakum). A shortage of fruit (q 7:130) figures among the punishments of the Egyptians (see egypt). A little more precise is fākiha, with the etymological connotation of enjoyable fruit (f-k-h denotes the sentiment of being cheerful), mostly appearing in paradisaical depictions.

After fruit, seeds figure prominently ¶ among the parts of plants. The sprouting of seeds is viewed as a work of God (q 6:95, inna llāha fāliqu l- ḥabbi wa-l-nawā). In most of the other instances, ḥabb or ḥabba serves as a symbol of the tiny thing that is yet not neglected by God: «Not a leaf falls but he knows it, nor a grain (ḥabba) in the darkness of the earth» (q 6:59, wa-mā tasquṭu min waraqatin illā yaʿlamuhā wa-lā ḥabbatin fī ẓulumāti l-ʿarḍi). In q 21:47 and 31:16 it is mentioned that God will reckon even the weight of one grain of a mustard-seed (mithqāl ḥabbatin min khardalin).

In reference to individual plants there are, first of all, trees: the Arabic word shajar or shajara is also used to denote bushes and shrubs. Some contexts point to an Arabian habitat, q 36:80 where the kindling of fire from shajar is considered to be a divine gift to humankind (also q 56:71 f.). As a place where bees live, shajar appears in q 16:68. A historical occurrence in Muḥammad’s life is associated with a tree in q 48:18: idh yubāyiʿūnaka taḥta l-shajarati. Other mentions of shajar(a) point to an extra-Arabian habitat, like the olive tree on Mount Sinai (q.v.; q 23:20), the burning shrub of Moses (q.v.; q 28:30; see fire), and the gourd shrub of Jonas (q.v.; q 37:146). There is an other-worldly tree (shajara mubāraka zaytūna) in the famous Light Verse (q 24:35). Otherwise, trees figure in paradise frequently, and are indeed characteristic of its landscape; but there is also an exotically shaped tree, shajarat al-zaqqūm or shajar min zaqqūm, in hell (q.v.; q 37:62; 44:43; 56:52; cf. 17:60).


Very often the palm tree, a particularly important plant in Arabia, is mentioned: nakhla or, collectively, nakhl (pl. nakhīl). It is the only plant that is described in some detail in the Qurʾān (q 6:99; 13:4; 26:148; 50:10; 55:11). In view of the importance of palms in the Arabian habitat, the metaphor of ruined palms provides a suffi-¶ ciently shocking image to dramatize the theme of a people smitten with divine punishment, the ʿĀd (q.v.; q 54:20; 69:7; see punishment stories). Nakhl may appear in the same context as gardens. They also occur in extra-Arabian habitats, like q 19:23, 25 (nakhla in the account of the birth of Jesus, q.v.) and q 20:71 (Moses appearing before Pharaoh, q.v.), as well as in a description of paradise (q 55:68). The fruit of the palm tree is mentioned rather seldom (q 19:25, ruṭab; q 16:67, thamarāt al-nakhīl).


Vines are mentioned eleven times (ʿinab, mostly aʿnāb); they appear in most cases (seven times) together with date palms (q 18:32), perhaps due to a joint cultivation of both species. Vines also appear in descriptions of paradise (q 78:32; the prohibition to consume intoxicating drinks is rather late [cf. q 16:67]; see intoxicants; chronology and the qurʾān). Besides date palms and vines, olive trees (zaytūn) occur five times, twice in the habitat of Mount Sinai.

Other plants named in the Qurʾān are tamarisk trees (athl, q 34:16), onions (baṣal, q 2:61), figs or fig trees (tīn, q 95:1), mustard (khardal, q 21:47; 31:16), lote tree (sidr, q 34:16; 56:28; cf. 53:14, 16), ginger (zanjabīl, q 76:17), pomegranates (rummān, q 6:99, 141; 55:68), basil (rayḥān, q 55:12), lentils (ʿadas, q 2:61), garlic (fūm, q 2:61) and the gourd shrub (yaqṭīn, q 37:146). As against these, some generic names are difficult to identify: khamṭ, thorny shrubs (q 34:16), ḍarīʿ, dried thorny shrubs (q 88:6), qaḍb, fodder plants (q 80:28; see grasses).

The empirical knowledge of these plants and moreover their places of cultivation clearly point to familiarity with and, indeed, the esteem of rural oases like al-Ṭāʾif as places of enjoyment and delight in the mental map of the listeners. Vegetation in paradise is not essentially different, but ¶ only more copious than earthly vegetation. It is noteworthy that only a few of the plants mentioned in the Qurʾān attest to the listeners' empirical knowledge of the vegetation of the desert.

Urban public space as a forum of meaningful social interaction

Ancient Bedouin poetry portrays the exemplary man, when appearing in public, as bound to burdensome constraints. He is expected to display extreme generosity, sometimes bordering on economic self-annihilation, so as to, through sacrifice, heroically defy the hardships imposed on weaker individuals by fate. Man in the Qurʾān is relieved of this burden. Moving in an urban space he orients himself to ethical values that are symbolically mirrored in the urban structures themselves. His «heroism» is not dependent on wealth and status, but piety (q.v.) and moral-ethical obedience (q.v.). q 90 «The City» (Sūrat al-Balad) may serve as an example: «No, I swear by this city. And you are an inhabitant (ḥillun) of this city. And the begetter and that which he begat. We verily have created man in affliction (kabadin). Does he think that nobody has power over him? And he says, ‘I have destroyed vast wealth.’ Does he think that nobody sees him? Did we not provide him with two eyes (q.v.) and a tongue and two lips, and guide him to the two mountain passes (najdayn). But he has not attempted the ascent (al-ʿaqaba). What will convey to you what the ascent is? [It is] the freeing of a slave, feeding in the day of hunger an orphan (q.v.) near of kin or a pauper in misery (see poverty and the poor), and to be of those who believe (see belief and unbelief) and exhort one another to perseverence (see trust and patience) and mercy (q.v.). Their place will be on the right hand. But those who disbelieve our revelations, their place will be on the left ¶ hand. Fire will be an awning over them.» The initial incantation evokes Mecca as the place of the origin of the addressee, joining it to the complex idea of procreation (see biology as the creation and stages of life). Mecca, as a city with a temenos, a ḥaram, i.e. a place where divine theophany has taken place, is thus a reference to the idea of divine interaction with humans. Allusions to both creation and divine communication at the beginning of history (see history and the qurʾān) have been identified as a stock introductory theme serving to arouse the listeners' expectation of an equally complex ending, of the fulfillment of both physical and spiritual time (Neuwirth, Images and metaphors; see form and structure of the qurʾān). Mecca, figuring from the beginning as a locus of divine self-manifestation, has attracted eschatological connotations similar to those of the biblical localities mentioned in comparable oath-introduced texts, namely Mount Sinai and Jerusalem, whose introduction at the beginnings of sūras serve as a prelude to eschatological discourses unfolded at the end of the texts.

What is particularly noteworthy in this sūra is the reflection of the urban structure in the image of a human being. The topographic features (the two paths, al- najdān, the steep path, al-ʿaqaba), recall features of the human body whose organs — some of which are dual as well — have been shaped to enable him to understand the proper ways of moral conduct. Both urban and bodily structures are thus divine tokens that have to be translated by the listeners into ethical imperatives. The topographic features of the difficult paths and the steep road which structure the public space of the city have to be read as moral tasks. To climb them means to restrain oneself in favor of others: to ease the burden of the slaves, the hungry and the poor. These «others» are presented as fellow ¶ creatures, whose bodily parts (raqaba, representing the social «class» of slaves), genetic relations (maqraba, representing the class of equals, or rich persons) or even whose ailments (masghaba, alluding to the class of the poor), through common rhyme patterns, evoke the aforementioned urban feature of ʿaqaba, thus including them in the morally demanding entity of urban public space. Mecca, indirectly introduced (vv. 1-2) as the scenario of this interaction, is obviously recognized as a body politic, suitable for implementing social activities in accordance with the divine will (cf. also Rippin, Commerce).

The pagan perception of man’s ideal activity in the public space is exemplarily presented in this sūra ("I have destroyed vast wealth, " q 90:6, ahlaktu mālan lubad) by the words of the unbeliever himself. It is, however, not rejected with the arguments known from the counter-voice of the pagan poet, the often adduced «critic» who aims at the avoidance of exaggerated generosity and warns of extra-family-oriented overspending, which may lead to impoverishment. Whereas in pre-Islamic poetry visibility in public space meant wasting one’s fortune by overspending to prove one’s generosity, in the Qurʾān any insistence on such extreme practices are censured. Public appearance in the Qurʾān is rather governed by an ethical code which aims at a fair distribution of goods achieved in an un-heroic manner. It is the experience of the city as a structured space that in the Qurʾān provides the metaphors to communicate that code.

Restoring meaning to deserted space (the umam khāliya; reconstruction of space in terms of salvation historical lieux de mémoire)

According to Kenneth Cragg, «Arabian history was awed by the recollection of whole prosperous communities which had disintegrated and passed away through the ¶ collapse, sudden or cumulative, of their earthworks and irrigation systems, most noteworthy of all the catastrophic end of the dam of Maʾrib and the irreparable loss of the precious oversoil by uncontrolled erosion» (Event, 88). This is certainly the factual background of the repeated evocations of bygone cultures, the umam khāliya or deserted localities in the Qurʾān. Yet, the frequent descriptions of deserted space as a marker of loneliness, of the search for meaning and never ending questions which figure so prominently in pagan poetry, also resound in the many allusions to deserted space in the Qurʾān. But in the Qurān — contrary to the situation in poetry — all the questions are answered. The desolate places are historical sites, evoked through the reports of events. Though seldom explicitly named, they still have become sites laden with symbolic significance, since their evocation marks the beginning of a conversion process: The believers are turned from a community rooted in a local collective memory (see e.g. q 105:1 on the episode of the elephant; see abraha), where reminiscences of local experience count (q 106:1-2 on Mecca’s past and present), into a community whose memory of imagined space is oriented towards an «other» tradition: that of salvation history. The development will reach its climax with the re-coding of significant geography as a whole, i.e. with its integration into a world that is scripturally informed. Before that stage is reached, allusions to deserted places that figure in Meccan texts are often related to the world of the listeners' experience, i.e. the Ḥijāz or the Arabian peninsula as a whole. These sites are, from the beginning, presented as collective lieux de mémoire, places replete with meaning, assuring the listeners of a divinely endorsed order, in which not capricious fate or cyclically occurring constraints dominate, but one in which an ¶ equilibrium of human action and welfare is achieved. For details about the local Arabian sites of umam khāliya we may simply refer to Josef Horovitz' seminal study, Koranische Untersuchungen (for Iram [q.v.] in q 89:7, see Horovitz, ku, 89; for Thamūd [q.v.] in q 11:61-8; 51:43 f.; 54:23-32; 69:5 f.; 89:8; 91:11 f., see Horovitz, ku, 11 f., 103 f. and also J. Stetkevych, Muhammad; for Madyan [see midian ] in q 7:85 f.; 9:70; 11:84 f.; 20:42; 22:43; 28:21; 29:35 f., see Horovitz, ku, 138; for Sabaʾ [see sheba ] in q 27:22, see Horovitz, ku, 115 f.; for Tubbaʿ [q.v.; or qawm Tubbaʿ] in q 44:36 f., 50:13, see Horovitz, ku, 103; for Sodom and Gomorra [the qurʾānic al-muʾtafikāt] in q 9:70; 69:9, see Horovitz, ku, 13 f.).

What is common to all of them, whether they are presented as known and visible to the first audience of the Qurʾān, or only adduced as mythical examples, is that they are spaces, imagined mostly as «cities» (qurā, sing. qarya, q 47:14; cf. q 30:9; 35:43; 40:22, 82), which, at the time of the Qurʾān, had become deserted. But what was, in pagan poetry, due to the seasonal cycle, i.e. the necessity of leaving campsites due to the lack of water, and successive devastation through natural decay, has been furnished in the Qurʾān with a historical reason. The devastation of the sites is caused by a divine retaliation, which the former inhabitants — the unbelievers — called upon themselves. That which in pagan poetry would arouse resignation: a temptation to allow oneself to succumb to the overwhelming power of fate from which the poet would recover only through a strenuous personal endeavor, was, to the Qurʾān’s audience, no longer a threat. More than once (q 27:69; 30:42), the Qurʾān invites the listeners to roam the lands and convince themselves of the tragic ends with which the earlier peoples have met — an idea associated already ¶ by Horovitz with the aṭlāl-descriptions of ancient poetry as well as with the verses on the «ubi sunt qui ante nos fuerunt» topos (Becker, Islamstudien, i, 501 f.). But the Qurʾān, in contrast with the nostalgic verses of poetry, is paraenetical in orientation, conveying the message that even the most powerful peoples are annihilated when they defy the warnings of their messengers (see warning). It teaches the imminence, but at the same time the avoidability, of divine retaliation in this life (see chastisement and punishment) that causes the destruction of one’s habitat in this world. Fate can be overcome, not through heroic endeavor, but through obeying messengers (see obedience). The absence of human presence is recompensed, not by a reassurance of previous happiness, but by a story restoring meaning, reestablishing the balance between what occurred and the suffering that was endured. Haphazard fate and all-consuming time have ceded their power to a just divine agent. Space has regained a meaningful historical dimension.

Exile and recovery of the familiar landscape // the «biblification» of pagan space

Two movements within the qurʾānic corpus mark the figuration of Mecca as a locus of salvific importance. The first presents Mecca as a calque on the biblically significant sites of the holy land and Jerusalem while the second situates Mecca as a second Jerusalem.

Mecca as a counterpart of biblical sites of revelation // the holy land and Jerusalem

It is interesting to note that early sūras, which otherwise focus on Meccan sacred space or Arabian sites of retaliation, in some instances already recall central sanctuaries of biblical geography. This applies in particular to Mount Sinai (q 19:52; 20:80; 28:46; 95:2), the locus of the revela-¶ tion received by Moses (q.v.). Through the juxtaposition of this sanctuary with Mecca, the pagan sanctuary is affirmed in its aura of a holy place honored as such in its past through a divine manifestation and thus communication of the divine will.

At a later phase, when the map of the believers has itself widened, it is no longer for the sake of Mecca that biblical loci are mentioned: a new notion of geography has arisen, relating not to experienced space but to desired space. It is the area of the holy land familiar to Judaism and Christianity that replaces the familiar local geography.

The holy land (al-arḍ al-muqaddasa, q 5:21; al-arḍ allatī bāraknā ḥawlahā/fīhā, literally, "the land that we have blessed, " q 21:71; cf. 7:137; 17:1; 34:18) is evoked in the Qurʾān on different occasions. Particularly the middle and late Meccan periods are replete with recollections of biblical history. The earlier reminiscences of Arabian salvation history are being replaced by recollections of biblical history featuring the Children of Israel (q.v.; Banū Isrāʾīl). Local lieux de mémoire are substituted by geographically remote ones — a new topographia sacra emerges, adopted from "the others, " not the genealogical, but the spiritual forebears. One of the first events recorded to have taken place in the holy land is the story of Lot (q.v.; Lūṭ) staged at the muʾtafikāt (q 53:53-6; 69:9). Indeed, the whole history of the Israelites, except for the parts staged in Egypt (Miṣr) and their wandering through the desert of Sinai, is located in the holy land. The Qurʾān later relates several significant events of salvation history staged in Jerusalem, such as the annunciation of a son gifted with prophecy to the aged Zechariah (q.v.; q 3:39; 19:7; see john the baptist), the sojourn of young Mary (q.v.) in the temple in the care of Zechariah (q 3:37), David’s judgment, viewed in the Qurʾān as a divine ¶ trial (q 38:21 f.), and finally the catastrophe of the destruction of the sanctuary by foreign conquerors, understood to be a punishment imposed on the Children of Israel (q 17:2 f.). These qurʾānic references to Jerusalem and the holy land, though often not explicit, not only serve to complete the narrative of salvation history, but also help the listeners adopt the remote world of the memory of the others as their own spiritual past. The community, urged to go into an inner exile, yearned for a substitute for the emotionally alienated and politically hostile landscape of their origin. Through the adoption of the qibla towards Jerusalem dating to the last years of Muḥammad’s Meccan activities, a trajectory has been constructed. q 17:1, the sole verse which connects the holy land directly with the biography of the Prophet, is also a testimony of the establishment of the first qibla (q.v.; Neuwirth, The spiritual meaning): «Glorified be he who carried his servant by night from the inviolable sanctuary (al- masjid al-ḥarām) to the remote sanctuary (al-masjid al-aqṣā), the neighborhood whereof we have blessed, in order that we might show him our signs. Verily, God is the hearer, the seer (see seeing and hearing; god and his attributes).»

Here, a short excursus on the qibla towards Jerusalem appears indispensable. Indeed, the Jerusalem sanctuary in its function as a ritual orientation — as the focus of an imaginary space becoming accessible in prayer — did not develop in the consciousness of the young Islamic community at a haphazard time. Rather, it appeared during a phase of development when, thanks to a complex process of new orientation, a remarkable widening of the young community’s horizons was taking place, in terms of time as well as of space. Thus the "remote sanctuary, " so suggestive in its topographical and historical setting, could become a forceful symbol. One ¶ might dare to hypothesize that the Jerusalem qibla came about as a gestural expression of the deeply felt experience of having gained new spiritual horizons.

Together, two essential novelties — the newly attained convergence of the qurʾānic revelations with the scriptures of the two other monotheistic religions and the simultaneous adoption of the topographia sacra of the earlier religions — created a new self-consciousness for the young Islamic community. This new self-awareness was no longer based primarily on the rites practiced at the Kaʿba, but on a new consciousness of being among the receivers and bearers of a scripture, and, as such, having a share in the memory of salvation history, transported by the medium of writing (see book). Jan Assmann (Das kulturelle Gedächtnis) has coined a phrase for this type of change in orientation, the «transition of a society from ritual coherence to textual coherence.» By its very gesture, the qibla, oriented toward Jerusalem, points to this new connection between the emerging Islamic community and the older religions. It is not surprising, then, that the qurʾānic allusions to the Meccan sanctuary and its rites as the previous guarantors of social coherence (Neuwirth, Images and metaphors) — allusions, up until that point, so numerous in the introductory sections of the Meccan sūras — were soon replaced by a stereotypical introductory evocation of the book(al- kitāb), now recognized as the most significant common spiritual possession. The images now appearing in the introductory sections of the sūras, the book and its requisites, unequivocally point to the awareness that a stream of tradition had come to a standstill and was now accessible through written means. It was a new form of remembrance that would soon penetrate the daily ritual practices: the strong attachment to a familiar place, which was characteristic of the worship at ¶ the Kaʿba, gave way to the perception of a new situation in a spiritual space, that reached far beyond the horizons of the inherited rites into the world and history of the others, of the Children of Israel (Banū Isrāʾīl).

Whereas in the earliest sūras there had been few places considered worth evoking except for Mecca and the deserted sites of Arabia, from this point until the emigration(hijra) — with the sole exception of q 17 — one does not find any further references to Mecca in the sūras. Instead, the «blessed land» is introduced as a space in which the oppressed believer may take refuge and where most of the prophets had worked. Sūras culminate in an oft-repeated appeal to the examples reaching far back into the history of the spiritual forebears, the Children of Israel (Banū Isrāʾīl). Jerusalem is the central sanctuary of the space marked by this scripture and thus by writing. All prayers gravitate in the direction of Jerusalem as their natural destination and to Jerusalem the worshipper turns his face in prayer.

The inner exile to which allusion is already made in q 73:10, «part from them in a pleasant manner» (uhjurhum hajran jamīlā), was to culminate in a territorial exile. As Cragg (Event, 126) has noted, "for an event so vital and formative, the Qurʾān surprisingly has little direct to say, " the only explicit passage about the emigration(hijra) being perhaps q 9:40-1. The move out of Mecca is, however, not definite; it presages the move against Mecca that would follow some ten years later and the spiritual recovery of the familiar space of the Meccan sanctuary before then.

Biblical sites substituted // Mecca’s emergence as a second Jerusalem

When we reach the Medinan period, we find the afore-sketched trajectory from the familiar but now banned and forbid-¶ den Mecca to the "remote, " imaginary sanctuary of Jerusalem being called into question.

Leaving the remote imaginary homeland — the recovery of the peninsula

It is in this period that an attempt to settle the antagonism between the local Jewish tribes and the Medinan communities is being made, and the incompatibility of the rivaling lieux de mémoire, the two topographiae sacrae, Jerusalem with the holy land on the one hand and Mecca with the Ḥijāzī landscape on the other, has become evident. Thus, places formerly carrying paradigmatic memories become loci of ambivalent events: Mount Sinai now is portrayed as the site where the Children of Israel failed to fulfill a divine command (q 2:63-4, 93; 4:153-5; 7:171). Jerusalem does not fare very differently. The rediscovery of Mecca as the essential destination of the longing of the exiles at Medina came about barely two years after the emigration, and is documented in q 2:142-4: «The fools from among the people will say, ‘What has turned them from their former qibla?’ Say: ‘Unto God belongs the east (al- mashriq) and the west (al- maghrib). He guides whom he will to a straight path (ṣirāṭ mustaqīm).’ …We have seen the turning of your face [i.e. Muḥammad] to heaven. Now we shall make you turn to a qibla that is dear to you. Turn your face towards the inviolable sanctuary (al- masjid al-ḥarām), and [O Muslims] wherever you are, turn your faces towards it.» The spiritual return of the worshippers to the Kaʿba at Mecca heralded in these verses dislocates Jerusalem from the center. A ritual re-orientation in space (see ritual and the qurʾān), expressed by so dominant a gesture in worship, should not be taken as a mere religio-political step, but appears to reflect the reality of a genuine change of spiritual longing. Mecca was able to replace Jerusalem because the ¶ memory shared with the Children of Israel (Banū Isrāʾīl) by the Medinan community had been eroded to some degree by the novel experience of territorial exile, within which the Meccan central sanctuary had increased substantially in symbolic value.


Mecca had by then gone through a substantial change. It had become integrated into that particular form of memory that is transported by the vehicle of writing, which we might identify with biblical tradition — and this bestowed on it the rank of a place honored by a significant episode of salvation history. It had become the central place of the career of a biblical hero, Abraham himself. Abraham’s inauguration prayer of the Kaʿba (q 2:126 f.) has been rightfully associated with the Solomonic inauguration prayer of the temple in Jerusalem. In Abraham’s prayer, the sanctuary is conceived not only as a place of pilgrimage for a particular group, but also as a sign set up for all humankind:

And when Abraham prayed, ‘My lord! Make this a safe country (baladan āminan)’…/‘Our lord! Make us submissive to you (muslimīna laka) and make a nation submissive to you from our seed’…/‘Our lord! And raise up for them a messenger from among them who will read them your signs and teach them the book(kitāb) and wisdom (al- ḥikma) and improve them (wa-yuzakkīhim).’

In this prayer, the Kaʿba appears as the monument of a new divine foundation. In view of its Abrahamic origin it has become the first monotheistic temple (cf. q 3:96).

According to this inaugural prayer, verbal worship and the reading of scripture shall take place in this sanctuary in addition to the constitutive rites of the ancienct cult (see recitation of the qurʾān). The prayer reaches its fulfillment with the ¶ appearance of the prophet Muḥammad. His mission is to complete the complex structure of Islam as a religion whose cult is based equally on ritual and verbal elements. He has come to read God’s signs to the community and teach them the scripture (q 2:129, yatlū ʿalayhim āyātika wa-yuʿallimuhumu l-kitāb). Through this new increase in meaning, once again a vital part of the previous aura of Jerusalem is transferred to Mecca. What had been a prerogative of Jerusalem attested by the prophet Isaiah, «The law will go out from Zion and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem» (Isa 2:3), is finally conferred on Mecca.

The uniqueness of the rites originating in Mecca and sanctioned by the Qurʾān are perceived as temporally prior to the phenomenon of revelation through scripture, associated so closely with Jerusalem (see revelation and inspiration). Thus, it is only at the end of the qurʾānic development, after Mecca had been regained and its sanctuary had finally found further anchoring in Islam, that ultimate statement is found: «Surely the first house founded for people is that in Bakka, the blessed and a guidance to all beings» (inna awwala baytin wuḍiʿa lil-nāsi la-lladhī bi-Bakkata mubārakan wa-hudan lil-ʿālamīn, q 3:96).

The canonical process of the Qurʾān is thus reflected not least in the changing views of space expressed in its geographical representations. At a first stage, local space replete with heroic memory or associated with the yearning for a lost paradise has been re-coded in lieux de mémoire recalling acts of divine mercy and generosity, as well as wrath, and mirroring human piety and obedience, but more often rebellion and obstinacy. Later, local space having become exile, had to be expanded to encompass its imaginary substitute, the topographia sacra of the Children of Israel (Banū Isrāʾīl). Finally, Mecca and the peninsula ¶ themselves acquired biblical associations and salvific as well as historical significance sufficient to obtain the rank of a divinely blessed topography of the new religion.

Primary
  • Ibn Ḥabīb, al-Muḥabbar, ed. I. Lichtenstaedter, Hyderabad 1942, repr. Beirut n.d.
  • id., al-Munammaq fī akhbār Quraysh, ed. Kh.A. Fārūq, Hyderabad 1964, Beirut 1985
  • Labīd, Muʿallaqa, in A.ʿA.Ḥ. al-Zawzānī, Sharḥ al-muʿallaqāt al-sabʿ, ed. M.ʿA. Ḥamd Allāh, Damascus 1963
Secondary
  • A. Ambros, Gestaltung und Funktionen der Biosphäre im Koran, in zdmg 140 (1990), 290—325
  • J. Assmann, Das kulturelle Gedächtnis. Schrift, Erinnerung und politische Identität in frühen Hochkulturen, München 1997
  • W.W. Barthold, Der Koran und das Meer, in zdmg 83 (1929), 37-43
  • C. Becker, Islamstudien. Vom Werden und Wesen der islamischem Welt, 2 vols., Hildesheim 1967
  • M.M. Bravmann, The spiritual background of early Islam. Studies in ancient Arab concepts, Leiden 1992
  • W. Caskel, Das Schicksal in der altarabischen Poesie, Leipzig 1926
  • K. Cragg, The event of the Qurʾān. Islam in its scripture, Oxford 1971, 1994
  • P. Crone, Meccan trade and the rise of Islam, Oxford 1987
  • O.A. Farrukh, Das Bild des Frühislam in der arabischen Dichtung von der Hiǧra bis zum Tode ʿUmars I. 23 d.H./622-644 n.Chr., Leipzig 1937
  • W. Graham, «The winds to herald his mercy» and other «signs for those of certain faith.» Nature as token of God’s sovereignty and grace in the Qurʾān, in S. Hyun Lee, W. Proudfoot and A. Blackwell (eds.), Faithful imagining. Essays in honor of Richard R. Niebuhr, Atlanta 1995, 18-38
  • A. Grohmann, Najd, in ei2, v, 864-6
  • A. Hamori, The art of medieval Arabic literature, Princeton 1974
  • Horovitz, ku
  • T. Izutsu, God and man in the Koran. Semantics of the koranic Weltanschauung, Tokyo 1964
  • H. Lammens, La Mecque à la veille de l’hégire, Beirut 1924
  • M. Lecker, Muhammad at Medina. A geographical approach, in jsai 6 (1985), 29-62
  • id., Muslims, Jews and pagans. Studies on early Islamic Medina, Leiden 1995
  • id., al-Ṭāʾif, in ei2, x, 116-7
  • J.E. Montgomery, Sundry observations on the fate of poetry in the early Islamic period, in J.R. Smart (ed.), Tradition and modernity in Arabic language and literature, London 1996, 49-60
  • G. Müller, Zum Problem des integrativen Zusammenhangs periodisch stattfindender Märkte auf der Arabischen Halbinsel im Jahrhundert vor dem Islam, in id., Ich bin Labid und das ist mein Ziel. Zum Problem der Selbstbehauptung in der altarabischen Qaside, Wiesbaden ¶ 1981, 141-53
  • A. Neuwirth, Images and metaphors in the introductory sections of the Makkan sūras, in Hawting and Shareef, Approaches, 3-26
  • id., The spiritual meaning of Jerusalem in Islam, in N. Rosovsky (ed.), City of the great king. Jerusalem from David to the present, Cambridge, MA 1996, 93-116
  • id. Studien
  • A. Noth, Früher Islam, in U. Haarmann (ed.), Geschichte der arabischen Welt, Munich 1987, 11-100
  • F.E. Peters, Jerusalem and Mecca. The typology of the holy city in the Near East, New York 1986
  • U. Rebstock, Das islamische Arabien bis zum Tode des Propheten (632/11h). Islamic Arabia until the death of the Prophet (632/11h), in Tübinger Atlas des Vorderen Orients (TAVO). No. 14, Wiesbaden 1987 (map)
  • G. Rentz, al-Ḥidjāz, in ei2, iii, 362-4
  • A. Rippin, The commerce of eschatology, in Wild, Text, 125-36
  • J. Stetkevych, Muhammad and the golden bough. Reconstructing Arabian myth, Bloomington, IN 1996
  • S. Stetkevych, The mute immortals speak. Pre-Islamic poetry and the poetics of ritual, Ithaca 1993
  • U. Thilo, Die Ortsnamen in der altarabischen Poesie, Wiesbaden 1958
  • W.M. Watt, al-Madīna, in ei2, vi, 994-8
  • id., Makka, in ei2, vi, 142-7
  • id., Muhammad at Mecca, Oxford 1953
  • id., Muhammad at Medina, Oxford 1956
  • J. Wellhausen, Reste altarabischen Heidentums, Berlin 18972, repr. 1927, 1961
  • A.J. Wensinck/J. Jomier, Kaʿba, in ei2, v, 317-22
Neuwirth, Angelika, «Geography», in: Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān, General Editor: Jane Dammen McAuliffe, Georgetown University, Washington DC. Consulted online on 07 January 2017 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1875-3922_q3_EQCOM_00074>

Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition /D̲j̲ug̲h̲rāfiyā

, Geography.

(I) The term d̲j̲ug̲h̲rāfiyā and the Arabs’ conception of geography

The term d̲j̲ug̲h̲rāfiyā (or d̲j̲ig̲h̲rāfiyā , d̲j̲āōg̲h̲rāfiyā , etc.), the title of the works of Marinos of Tyre (c. 70-130) and Claudius Ptolemy (c.A.D. 90-168) was translated into Arabic as Ṣūrat al-arḍ which was used by some Arab geographers as the title of their works. Al-Masʿūdī (d. 345/956) explained the term as ḳaṭʿ al-arḍ , ‘survey of the Earth’. However, it was used for the first time in the Rasāʾil Ik̲h̲wān al-Ṣafāʾ in the sense of ‘map of the world and the climes’. The Arabs did not conceive of geography as a well-defined and delimited science with a specific connotation and subject-matter in the modern sense. The Arabic geographical literature was distributed over a number of disciplines, and separate monographs on various aspects of geography were produced under such headings as Kitāb al-Buldān , Ṣūrat al-arḍ, al-Masālik wa ’l-mamālik , ʿIlm al-ṭuruḳ , etc. Al-Bīrūnī considered al-Masālik as the science which dealt with fixing the geographical position of places. Al-Muḳaddasī came nearest to dealing with most aspects of geography in his work Aḥsan al-taḳāsīm fī maʿrifat al-aḳālīm . The present use of the term d̲j̲ug̲h̲rāfiya for geography in Arabic is a comparatively modern practice.

(II) Pre-Islamic and Early Islamic Periods

In pre-Islamic times the Arabs’ knowledge of geography was confined to certain traditional and ancient geographical notions or to place-names of Arabia and the adjacent lands. The three main sources where these are preserved are: the Ḳurʾān, ¶ the Prophetic Tradition ( ḥadīt̲h̲ ) and ancient Arabic poetry. Many of these notions must have originated from Babylonia in ancient times or were based on Jewish and Christian traditions and indigenous Arab sources.

The geographical concepts or information contained in ancient Arabic poetry reflect the level of understanding of the pre-Islamic Arabs of geographical phenomena and the limits of their knowledge. The Ḳurʾān preserves traces of some geographical and cosmographical ideas which resemble ancient Babylonian, Iranian and Greek concepts and the Jewish and Christian Biblical traditions. Verses like ‘the heavens and the earth were joined together before we clove them asunder’ (XXI, 30); ‘God is He Who created seven Firmaments and of the earth a similar number’ (LXV, 12); ‘God is He who raised the heavens without any pillars’ (XIII, 2); ʿAnd we have made the heavens as a canopy well guarded’ (XXI, 32); ‘He withholds the sky from falling on the earth except by His leave’ (XXII, 65); and verses that describe the earth as being spread out and the mountains set thereon firm so that it may not shake, all form a picture which resembles the ancient Babylonian concept of the universe in which the Earth was a disc-shaped body surrounded by water and then by another belt of mountains upon which the Firmament rested. There was water under the Earth as well as above it. Again, concepts like that of ‘the Sun setting in a spring of murky water’ (XVIII, 86) referring to the Atlantic, and of the earth’s being flat must have had their origin in Greek geography. The concept of the two seas, one of sweet water and the other saline (XXV, 53), referring to the Mediterranean and the Arabian Sea, and that of al-barzak̲h̲ , ‘the barrier’ between them (a by-form of farsak̲h̲ ‘parasang’, from Pahlavi frasang ) were most probably of Iranian origin. Besides, certain terms in the Ḳurʾān, e.g., burūd̲j̲ (= Gr. Πύρϒος, Latin burgus ), baladun or baladatun (a Semitic borrowing from the Latin palatium: Gr. Παλάτιον), ḳarya (> Syriac ḳrīt̲h̲āʾ , a town or village), indicate the non-Arab origin of the concepts with which these terms are associated in the Ḳurʾān.

There are some traditions attributed to ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib (d. 40/660), Ibn ʿAbbās (d. 66-9/686-8), ʿAbd Allāh b. ʿAmr b. al-ʿĀṣ and others, which deal with cosmogony, geography and other related questions, but it seems that these traditions which reflect the ancient geographical notions of the Arabs were concocted in a later period to counteract the scientific geographical knowledge that was becoming popular among the Arabs of the period, although they were presented as authentic knowledge by some geographers in their works. Though scientific knowledge advanced, some of the traditions exercised deep influence on Arab geographical thought and cartography, e.g., the tradition according to which the shape of the land-mass was compared to a big bird whose head was China, right wing India, left wing al-K̲h̲azar, chest Mecca, Ḥid̲j̲āz, Syria, ʿIrāḳ and Egypt and tail North Africa (Ibn al-Faḳīh, 3-4) became the basis of the geographical writings of the Balk̲h̲ī School. It is not unlikely that this concept had its origin in some ancient Iranian maps observed by the Arabs.

The political expansion of the Arabs, after the rise of Islam, into Africa and Asia, afforded them opportunities to collect information and to observe and record their experiences of the various countries that had come under their sway or were adjacent to the Arab Empire. Whether such information was ¶ gathered for military expeditions or for other purposes, it is very likely that it was also utilized in the topographical works that were produced during the early ʿAbbāsid period.

(III) The Transmission of Indian, Iranian and Greek Geographical Knowledge to the Arabs

It was not until the beginning of the ʿAbbāsid rule and the establishment of Bag̲h̲dād as the capital of the empire that the Arabs began acquainting themselves with scientific geography in the true sense. The conquest of Īrān, Egypt and Sind gave the Arabs the opportunity to gain first hand knowledge of the scientific and cultural achievements of the peoples of these ancient cradles of civilization, as well as giving them ownership of, or easy access to their centres of learning, laboratories and observatories. But the process of acquiring and assimilating foreign knowledge did not begin until the time of the Caliph Abū D̲j̲aʿfar al-Manṣūr (135-58/753-75), the founder of Bag̲h̲dād. He took a keen interest in the translation of scientific works into Arabic, which activity lasted for nearly two hundred years in the Islamic world. The Barmakid [q.v.] wazīrs also played an important role in the promotion of scientific activity at the court. Quite often the translators were themselves eminent scientists whose efforts enriched the Arabic language with Indian, Iranian and Greek geographical, astronomical and philosophical knowledge.

Indian Influences. Indian geographical and astronomical knowledge passed on to the Arabs through the first translation into Arabic of the Sanskrit treatise Sūrya-siddhānta (not Brahmasphut́asiddhānta as believed by some scholars) during the reign of al-Manṣūr. The work showed some earlier Greek influences (see A. B. Keith, History of Sanskrit literature, 517-21), but once translated into Arabic it became the main source of the Arabs’ knowledge of Indian astronomy and geography, and formed the basis of many works that were produced during this period, e.g., Kitāb al-Zīd̲j̲ by Ibrāhīm b. Ḥabīb al-Fazārī (wrote after 170/786), al-Sind Hind al-sag̲h̲īr by Muḥammad b. Mūsā al-K̲h̲wārizmī (d. after 232/847), al-Sind Hind by Ḥabas̲h̲ b. ʿAbd Allāh al-Marwazī al-Bag̲h̲dādī (second half of the 3rd/9th century) and others.

Among other Sanskrit works translated into Arabic during this period were: Āryabhat́īya (Ar.: Ard̲j̲abhad ) by Āryabhat́a of Kusumapura (b. A.D. 476) who wrote in A.D. 499; then, Khandakhādyaka of Brahmagupta son of D̲j̲is̲h̲nu of Bhillamāla (near Multān). He was born in A.D. 598 and wrote this work in A.D. 665. It was a practical treatise giving material in a convenient form for astronomical calculations, but this was based on a lost work of Āryabhat́a, who again agreed with the Sūryasiddhānta . The Sanskrit literature translated into Arabic belonged mainly to the Gupta period.

The influence of Indian astronomy on Arab thought was much deeper than that of Indian geography, and although Greek and Iranian ideas had a deeper and more lasting effect, Indian geographical concepts and methods were well known. Indians were compared to the Greeks in their talent and achievements in the field of geography, but the Greeks were considered more accomplished in this field (al-Bīrūnī, al-Ḳānūn , 536).

Among the various geographical concepts with which the Arab scientists became acquainted were: the view of Āryabhat́a that the daily rotation of the ¶ heavens is only apparent, being caused by the rotation of the earth on its own axis; that the proportion of water and land on the surface of the Earth was half and half; that the land-mass, which was compared to a tortoise, was surrounded by water on all sides, and was shaped like a dome whose highest point had Mount Meru (an imaginary mountain) on it directly under the North Pole; the northern hemisphere was the inhabited part of the Earth and its four limits were D̲j̲amakūt in the East, Rūm in the West, Lankā (Ceylon) which is the Cupola and Sīdpūr, and the division of the inhabited part of the Earth into nine parts. The Indians calculated their longitudes from Ceylon and believed that this prime meridian passed through Ud̲j̲d̲j̲ayn [q.v.] (Ujjain). The Arabs took over the idea of Ceylon’s being the Cupola of the Earth, but later believed that Ud̲j̲d̲j̲ayn was the Cupola, mistakenly thinking that the Indians calculated longitudes from that point.

Iranian Influences. There is sufficient evidence in Arabic geographical literature to point to Iranian influences on Arab geography and cartography, but the actual process of the transmission of Īrān’s knowledge to the Arabs has not been worked out in detail. J. H. Kramers correctly points out that during the 9th century Greek influence was supreme in Arab geography, but from the end of the 9th century the influence was more from the east than from the west, and it was from Īrān that these influences mainly came, for most of the authors came from the Iranian provinces ( Analecta Orientalia , i, 147-8). Ḏj̲undaysābūr was still a great centre of learning and research and there is little doubt that the Arabs were acquainted with some of the Pahlavi works on astronomy, geography, history and other subjects which were extant in some parts of Irān during this period. Some of these works were translated into Arabic and formed the basis of the Arabic works on the subject. Al-Masʿūdī ascribes to Ḥabas̲h̲ b. ʿAbd Allāh al-Marwazī al-Bag̲h̲dādī an astronomical treatise Zid̲j̲_ al-S̲h̲āh which was based on the Persian style. He also recorded a Persian work entitled Kāh-nāma which dealt with the various grades of kings and formed a part of the larger work entitled Āʾīn-nāma , ‘Book of Customs’ . Again, he mentions having seen at Iṣṭak̲h̲r in 302/915 a work that dealt with the various sciences of the Iranians, their histories, monuments, etc. and other information that was not found either in K̲h̲udāʾī-nāma , Āʾīn-nāma or Kāh-nāma. This work was discovered among the treasures of the Persian kings and was translated from Persian into Arabic for His̲h̲ām b. ʿAbd al-Malik b. Marwān (105-25/724-43). It is not unlikely that works of this nature formed part of the sources of the Arabs’ knowledge on the geography and topography of Īrān and on the limits of the Sāsānian Empire, its administrative divisions and other details.

Among the various Iranian geographical concepts and traditions followed by Arab geographers, the concept of the Seven Kis̲h̲wars ( Haft Iḳlīm ) was the most important. In this system the world was divided into seven equal geometric circles, each representing a kis̲h̲war , in such a manner that the fourth circle was drawn in the centre with the remaining six around it, and included Īrāns̲h̲ahr of which the most central district was al-Sawād. The Arab geographers continued to be influenced by this system for a long time, and in spite of the view of al-Bīrūnī that it had no scientific or physical basis and that the Greek division of the Climes was more ¶ scientific, the Greek division of the world into three or four continents never appealed to them. The concept of the two main seas, namely, the Baḥr al-Rūm and the Baḥr Fārs (the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean) which entered the land from the Baḥr al-Muḥīṭ (the Encircling Ocean), one from the north-west, i.e., the Atlantic and the other from the east, i.e., the Pacific, but were separated by al-Barzak̲h̲ (‘the Barrier’, i.e., the Isthmus of Suez), also dominated Arab geography and cartography for several centuries. As pointed out by J. H. Kramers, although it is very probable that the notion rests in the last resort on Ptolemy, the fact that the Indian Ocean is most often called Baḥr Fārs, seems to prove that this sea, at least, formed part of the original geographic sketch of the Persians. As to the origin of this sketch itself we find ourselves in uncertainty (Analecta Orientalia, i, 153).

Persian traditions deeply influenced Arab maritime literature and navigation also, as is evident from the use of words of Persian origin in the nautical vocabulary of the Arabs, e.g., bandar (port), nāk̲h̲udā (shipmaster), rahmānī (book of nautical instructions), daftar (sailing instructions), etc. Certain Persian names like k̲h̲ann (rhumb), ḳuṭb al-d̲j̲āh (pole), etc., also indicate Persian influences on the Arab windrose. Such examples can be multiplied. Persian influences are apparent in Arab cartography as well, an indication of which is found in the use of terms of Persian origin, e.g., ṭaylasān , s̲h̲ābūra , ḳuwāra , etc., to describe certain formations of coasts. These terms, originally indicating certain garments, were used right down to the 7th/13th century. They also point to the existence of maps in ancient Īrān (J. H. Kramers, op. cit. 148-9). As for the ‘Indian map which is at al-Ḳawād̲h̲iyān’ (Ibn Ḥawḳal, ed. Kramers, 2) Kramers pointed out that al-Ḳawād̲h̲iyān must contain here an allusion to more primitive maps of the Balk̲h̲ī-Iṣṭak̲h̲rī series, because the maps of Ibn Ḥawḳal are partly in conformity with this series and partly different (Kramers, op. cit., 155). A correct identification of these maps or their discovery would certainly help to solve the problem of the origin of the maps of the Balk̲h̲ī school. Here it may be pointed out that if we read Ibn Ḥawkạl’s text as ‘the geometrical map at al-Ḳawād̲h̲iyān’ (a town near Tirmid̲h̲ in Central Asia), then he must have been referring to some map that was there and was used by geographers as a basis for cartography. It is quite likely that it was based on the Persian kis̲h̲war system, for al-Bīrūnī remarks that the term kis̲h̲war was derived from ‘the line’ ( al-k̲h̲aṭṭ ) which really indicated that these divisions were as distinct from each other as anything that was drawn in lines would be ( Ṣifat , ed. Togan, 61).

Greek Influences. More positive data are available on how Greek geographical and astronomical knowledge passed on to the Arabs in the mediaeval period. The process began with the translations of the works of Claudius Ptolemy and other Greek astronomers and philosophers into Arabic either directly or through the medium of Syriac.

Ptolemy’s Geography was translated several times during the ʿAbbāsid period, but what we possess is the adaptation of Ptolemy’s work by Muḥammad b. Mūsā al-K̲h̲wārizmī (d. after 232/847) with contemporary data and knowledge acquired by the Arabs incorporated into it. Ibn K̲h̲urradād̲h̲bih mentions having consulted and translated Ptolemy’s work (perhaps it was in the original Greek or in Syriac translation) and al-Masʿūdī also consulted a copy of ¶ the Geography and also the world map by Ptolemy. It seems that some of these translations had become corrupt, and foreign material was interpolated into them which did not belong to the original work, e.g., the copy consulted by Ibn Ḥawḳal (ed. Kramers, 13). Among other works of Ptolemy translated into Arabic and utilized by Arab geographers were: Almagest (Ar.: Almad̲j̲isṭī ); Tetrabiblon (Ar.: al-Maḳālāt al-arbaʿa ); Apparitions of fixed stars, etc. (Ar.: Kitāb al-Anwāʾ).

Among other works translated into Arabic were: the Geography of Marinos of Tyre (c. A.D. 70-130) consulted by al-Masʿūdī who also consulted the world map by Marinos; the Timaeus (Ar.: Ṭaymāʾūs ) of Plato; the Meteorology (Ar.: al-Āt̲h̲ār al-ʿulwiyya ), De caelo (Ar.: al-Samāʾ wa ’l-ʿālam ) and Metaphysics (Ar.: Mā baʿd al-ṭabīʿa ) of Aristotle.

The works of these writers and of several other Greek astronomers and philosophers, when rendered into Arabic, provided material in the form of concepts, theories and results of astronomical observations which ultimately helped Arab geography to evolve on a scientific basis. Persian influences were no doubt marked in regional and descriptive geography as well as in cartography, but Greek influence dominated practically the whole canvas of Arab geography. Even in fields where it may be said that there was a kind of competition between Persian and Greek ideas or methodology, e.g., between the Persian kis̲h̲war system and the Greek system of Climes, the Greek were more acceptable and remained popular. The Greek basis of Arab geography was most prominent in mathematical, physical, human and bio-geography. The Greek impact had a very lasting influence, for it remained the basis of Arab geography as late as the 19th century (traces found in 19th century Persian and even Urdū works on geography written in India), even though on European minds Ptolemaic influence had decreased much earlier. It cannot, however, be denied that throughout this period there was an undercurrent of conflict between the theoretical concepts of the Greek masters on the one hand and the practice and observation of the merchants and sailors of this period on the other. Al-Masʿūdī refers to it in the case of the Ptolemaic theory of the existence of an unknown land in the southern hemisphere. On the other hand Ibn Ḥawḳal considered Ptolemy almost infallible. The fact was that Greek information when transmitted to the Arabs was already outdated by about five centuries, and so difficulty arose when Arab geographers tried to incorporate fresh and contemporary information acquired by them into the Ptolemaic frame-work and to corroborate it with Greek data. The result was confusion and often misrepresentation of facts in geographical literature and cartography, as is evident from the works of geographers like al-Idrīsī.

(IV) The Classical Period (3rd-5th/9th-11th centuries)

(a) The Period of al-Maʾmūn (197-218/813-33):

Over half a century of Arab familiarity with, and study of Indian, Iranian and Greek geographical science, from the time of the Caliph al-Manṣūr (136-57/754-74) up to the time of al-Maʾmūn, resulted in completely revolutionizing Arab geographical thought. Such concepts as that the Earth was round and not flat, and that it occupied the central position in the Universe, were introduced to them for the first time properly and systematically. ¶ Henceforth, the Ḳurʾānic verses dealing with cosmogony, geography, etc. and the Traditions were utilized only to give religious sanction to geographical works or to exhort the believers to study geography and astronomy. Thus, by the beginning of the 3rd/9th century the real basis was laid for the production of geographical literature in Arabic and the first positive step in this regard was taken by the Caliph al-Maʾmūn, who successfully surrounded himself with a band of scientists and scholars and patronized their academic activities. Whether al-Maʾmūn’s interest in astronomy and geography was genuine and academic, or whether it was political is not certain. During his reign, however, some very important contributions were made towards the advancement of geography: the measurement of an arc of a meridian was carried out (the mean result gave 56⅔ Arabic miles as the length of a degree of longitude, a remarkably accurate value); the astronomical tables called al-Zīd̲j̲ al-mumtaḥan (The verified tables) were prepared by the collective efforts of the astronomers; lastly, a World Map called al-Ṣūra al-Maʾmūniyya was prepared, which was considered superior to the maps of Ptolemy and Marinos of Tyre by al-Masʿūdī who had consulted and compared all three ( Tanbīh , ed. De Goeje, 33). It was most probably based on the Greek system of climes.

(b) The Astronomers and Philosophers:

The Arab astronomers and philosophers made equally important contributions to mathematical and physical geography through their observations and theoretical discussions. From the time of the introduction of Greek philosophy and astronomy in the second half of the 2nd/8th century up to the first half of the 5th/11th century a galaxy of philosophers and astronomers worked on various problems of mathematical, astronomical and physical geography. The works of the Greek scientists had already provided enough basis and material for this. Thus the results of the experiments, observations and theoretical discussions of the Arab scientists were recorded in their more general works on astronomy and philosophy or in monographs on special subjects like tides, mountains, etc. The contemporary and later writers on general geography in Arabic often, though not always, reproduced these results in their works and sometimes discussed them. Some of these writers reproduced various current theories, Greek or otherwise, about a problem in the introductory parts of their works. Thus a tradition was established of writing on mathematical, physical and human geography in the beginning of any work dealing with geography. This is noticeable, for example, in the works of Ibn Rusta, al-Yaʿḳūbī, al-Masʿūdī, Ibn Ḥawkạl, etc.

Among the outstanding Arab philosophers and astronomers whose works were utilized and theories discussed by Arab geographers were: Yaʿḳūb b. Isḥāḳ al-Kindī (d. 260/874), to whom two works on geography are attributed, (1) Rasm al-maʿmūr min al-arḍ and (2) Risāla fi ’l-biḥār wa ’l-madd wa ’l-d̲j̲azr . One of al-Kindī’s pupils, Aḥmad b. Muḥammad b. al-Ṭayyib al-Sarak̲h̲sī (d. 286/899), is also said to have written two works, (1) al-Masālik wa ’l-mamālik and (2) Risāla fi ’l-biḥār wa ’l-miyāh wa ’l-d̲j̲ibāl . Neither the works of al-Kindī nor those of al-Sarak̲h̲sī are extant, and what we know of their geographical views are from other sources which used them. It seems that the two authors utilized the works of Ptolemy and other Greek writers, as ¶ we find in al-Masʿūdī that their works did contain Ptolemaic information on physical and mathematical geography and on oceanography. Al-Kindī’s work Rasm al-maʿmūr min al-arḍ may have been a version of Ptolemy’s Geography as the title of the work itself suggests; al-Masʿūdī consulted a work of Ptolemy’s entitled Maskūn al-arḍ and a world map called Ṣūrat maʿmūr al-arḍ (al-Masʿūdī, Murūd̲j̲ , i, 275-7; Tanbīh , 25, 30, 51).

Among other philosophers and astronomers whose writings served as a source of information on mathematical and physical geography were: al-Fazārī (second half of the 2nd/8th century); Aḥmad b. Muḥammad b. Kat̲h̲īr al-Farg̲h̲ānī (d. after 247/861) author of al-Fuṣūl al-t̲h̲alāt̲h̲īn (al-Masʿūdī, Murūd̲j̲, iii, 443; Tanbīh, 199) and al-Mudk̲h̲il ilā ʿilm hayʾat al-aflāk ; Abū Maʿs̲h̲ar D̲j̲aʿfar b. Muḥammad al-Balk̲h̲ī (d. 273/886), author of al-Mudk̲h̲il al-kabīr ilā ʿilm al-nud̲j̲ūm ; al-Masʿūdī consulted another work by him entitled Kitāb al-ulūf fi’l-hayākil wa ’l-bunyān al-ʿaẓīm ; then Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad b. Ḏj̲ābir al-Battānī (d. 317/929) and others. The fourth Risāla of the Rasāʾil Ik̲h̲wān al-Ṣafā deals with D̲j̲ug̲h̲rāfiyā . Written in about 370/980, it simply deals with elementary knowledge about mathematical and physical geography based on Greek geography, since the main purpose of the writers was to guide the reader to achieve union with God through wisdom.

(c) General Geographical Literature:

By the 3rd/9th century a considerable amount of geographical literature had been produced in various forms in the Arabic language, and it appears that the Arabs had at their disposal some Pahlavi works, or translations thereof, dealing with the Sāsānian Empire, its geography, topography, postal routes and details essential for administrative purposes. These works must have become available to those interested in geography and topography. It is not surprising, therefore, to find that early writers like Ibn K̲h̲urradād̲h̲bih, Ḳudāma and others were heads of postal departments or government secretaries, besides being men of learning. During the 3rd/9th century, therefore, a number of works were produced that were given the generic title al-Masālik wa ’l-mamālik . In all probability the first work bearing this title was that of Ibn K̲h̲urradād̲h̲bih. The first draft of his work was prepared in 231/846 and the second in 272/885; it became the basis and model for writers on general geography and was highly praised by almost all geographers who utilized it. He was the Director of the Post and Intelligence Department and was a man of learning and erudition. What prompted him to write a geographical treatise may be explained from his own statement that it was in fulfilment of the desire of the Caliph, for whom he also translated the work of Ptolemy (from Greek or Syriac) into Arabic (Ibn K̲h̲urradād̲h̲bih, 3). However, the desire of the Caliph may itself have arisen from the practical needs of the government. We find that Ḳudāma b. D̲j̲aʿfar al-Kātib considered the ‘science of roads’ ( ʿilm al-ṭuruḳ ) not only useful for general guidance in the Dīwān , but also essential for the Caliph who might need it for his travels or for despatching his armies (185).

The geographical works produced during the 3rd/9th and 4th/10th centuries may be divided into two broad categories: (1) works dealing with the world as a whole but treating the ʿAbbāsid Empire ( Mamlakat al-Islām ) in greater detail. They attempted to give all such secular information as could not ¶ find a place in the general Islamic literature, and hence this category is called ‘the secular geographical literature of the period’. The writers described the topography and the road-system of the ʿAbbāsid Empire and covered mathematical, astronomical, physical, human and economic geography. Among the representatives of this class of geographers were: Ibn K̲h̲urradād̲h̲bih, al-Yaʿḳūbī, Ibn al-Faḳīh, Ḳudāma and al-Masʿūdī. Since ʿIrāḳ was the most important centre of geographical learning at this time and many of the geographers belonged to it, we may for the sake of convenience use the term ʿIrāḳī School for them. Within this School, however, two groups of writers may be discerned: those who present the material following the four directions, viz ., north, south, east and west, and tend to consider Bag̲h̲dād as the centre of the world, and those who arrange it according to various Iḳlīms (regions) and for the most part treat Mecca as the centre. (2) To the second category of works belong the writings of al-Iṣṭak̲h̲rī, Ibn Ḥawḳal and al-Muḳaddasī, for whom the term Balk̲h̲ī School has been used, as they followed Abū Zayd al-Balk̲h̲ī (see below). They confined their accounts to the world of Islam, describing each province as a separate Iḳlīm , and hardly touching upon non-Islamic lands except the frontier regions.

(i) The ʿIrāḳī School. The works of Ibn K̲h̲urradād̲h̲bih, al-Yaʿḳūbī and al-Masʿūdī are distinguished from the writings of other geographers of this School by two special features: first, they follow the Iranian kis̲h̲war system, and second, they equate ʿIrāḳ with Īrāns̲h̲ahr and begin their descriptions with it, thus placing ʿIrāḳ in a central position in Arab regional and descriptive geography. According to al-Bīrūnī the Seven kis̲h̲wars were represented by seven equal circles. The central kis̲h̲war was Īrāns̲h̲ahr which included K̲h̲urāsān, Fārs, D̲j̲ibāl and ʿIrāḳ. He considered that these divisions were arbitrary and had been made primarily for political and administrative reasons. In ancient times the great kings lived in Īrāns̲h̲ahr, and it was necessary for them to live in the central zone so that they would be equidistant from other kingdoms and therefore find it easy to deal with matters. Such a division had no relation either to the physical systems or to astronomical laws, but was based on political changes or ethnological differences ( Ṣifa , ed. Togan, 5, 60-62). With the foundation of Bag̲h̲dād as the capital of the ʿAbbāsid Empire, ʿIrāḳ naturally occupied a central and politically important position in the world of Islam. Ibn K̲h̲urradād̲h̲bih equated ʿIrāḳ with Īrāns̲h̲ahr and the district of al-Sawād which was called dil-i Īrāns̲h̲ahr in ancient times occupied the central position in his system of geography, and he begins his account with its description. Similarly, al-Yaʿḳūbī considered ʿIrāḳ as the centre of the world and ‘the navel of the earth’ (surrat al-arḍ), but for him Bag̲h̲dād was the centre of ʿIrāḳ, for it was not only the greatest city of the world unparalleled in its glory, but it was also the seat of government of the Banū Hās̲h̲im. Because it occupied a central position in the world, ʿIrāḳ had a moderate climate, its inhabitants were handsome and intelligent and possessed high morals. But in his system of geography Bag̲h̲dād is grouped with Sāmarrā, and the description begins with these two towns. A similar note of the superiority of ʿIrāḳ is struck by the historian and geographer al-Masʿūdī, who thought of Bag̲h̲dād as the best city in the world (Tanbīh, 34; cf. Ibn al-Faḳīh, 195 ff.)

As against these writers, Ḳudāma, Ibn Rusta and ¶ Ibn al-Faḳīh display no enthusiasm for ʿIrāḳ or Īrāns̲h̲ahr. In their system Mecca and Arabia are given precedence. In Ḳudāma Mecca is given absolute precedence and all roads leading to Mecca are described before an account of roads leading out of Bag̲h̲dād is given. He did give importance to ʿIrāḳ, but as the capital province of the Mamlakat al-Islām . Thus he considered it important, but only from a political and administrative point of view. In his system of geography, therefore, there is a slight shift of emphasis from the Iranian concept to what might be termed an ‘Islamic approach’ to geography. A similar tendency is also noticeable in Ibn Rusta (beginning of 4th/10th century) who departed completely from the Iranian traditions and assigned to Mecca and Medina the foremost place in his arrangement of geographical material. In his description of the Seven Iḳlīms he prefers to describe them according to the Greek pattern and not according to the kis̲h̲war system. In the geographical work of Ibn al-Faḳīh also, the description of Mecca takes precedence, but a considerable portion of the work is devoted to Fārs, K̲h̲urāsān, etc. and the Iḳlīms are described according to the kis̲h̲war system.

An important feature of the works of Ibn K̲h̲urradād̲h̲bih, al-Yaʿḳūbī and Ḳudāma is that the material in them is arranged and described following the four directions, namely, east, west, north and south according to the division of the world into four quarters. Such a method of description must have had its origin in some Iranian geographical tradition, and the Arab geographers must have had some pattern before them to copy. According to al-Masʿūdī the Persians and the Nabataeans divided the inhabited part of the world into four parts, viz ., K̲h̲urāsān (east), Bāk̲h̲tar (north), K̲h̲urbarān (west) and Nīmrūz (south) ( Tanbīh , 31; cf. al-Yaʿḳūbī, 268). However, Ḳudāma points out the arbitrariness of such a division. For him the terms east, west, north and south had only a relative value. In Ibn Rusta and Ibn al-Faḳīh, the arrangement is by regions.

Ibn K̲h̲urradād̲h̲bih, who may be called the father of geography, laid down the pattern and style for writing geography in the Arabic language. But, as J. H. Kramers pointed out, he was not an inventor of this style or pattern. He must have had some pattern or sample of an earlier work on the subject before him. There is a great likelihood that an Arabic translation of some earlier Pahlavi work on ancient Īrān was accessible to him. His work covers not only the Mamlakat al-Islām , but describes its frontiers and kingdoms and the peoples bordering on them. He was well acquainted with Ptolemy’s work as is evident from his description of the limits of inhabited parts of the world and from the description of the Greek conception of the continents, namely, Arūfā , Lūbya , Ityūfiyā and Isḳūtiyā .

Aḥmad b. Abī Yaʿḳūb b. Wāḍiḥ al-Kātib al-Yaʿḳūbī (d. 284/897) claims to have travelled a great deal. He emphasized the fact of having obtained information from the inhabitants of the regions concerned, and of having verified it from trustworthy persons (232-3). His object in writing the book was to describe the routes leading to the frontiers of the Empire and the territories adjacent to them. It is for this reason that he dealt in a separate monograph with the history and geography of Rūm (the Byzantine Empire), and devoted another work to the conquest of Ifrīḳiya (North Africa). Al-Yaʿḳūbī’s work deals mainly with topography and ¶ itineraries, and his arrangement of the material is similar to that of Ibn K̲h̲urradād̲h̲bih.

Ḳudāma b. D̲j̲aʿfar al-Kātib (4th/10th century) devoted the eleventh chapter of his work Kitāb al-k̲h̲arād̲j̲ wa ṣarʿat al-kitāb to a description of the postal stations and routes of the ʿAbbāsid Empire. The main objective of his work was to describe the Mamlakat al-Islām and its frontiers, especially the frontiers with the Byzantine empire (Rūm) which he considered the greatest enemy of Islam (252). In his geography the ‘Islamic approach’ is perceptible, but a political attitude like the defence of the frontiers is also discernible. His work also covers descriptions of peoples and kingdoms surrounding the Mamlaka . He deals with general and physical geography and seems to have borrowed information on regional and descriptive geography from the Greek sources.

Ibn Rusta’s work (beginning of 4th/10th century) entitled al-Aʿlāḳ al-nafīsa resembles that of Ḳudāma in that it describes Mecca and Medina in the very beginning of the portion dealing with regional geography. The main purpose of the work, however, seems to have been to provide general information about the world as a whole, and hence one finds in it, besides a description of the Islamic lands, descriptions on a regional basis of several countries lying outside the limits of Islam. He dealt with mathematical geography in a systematic and exhaustive way and collected varied theories and opinions about various problems (23-4). He presents material on general and physical geography and describes the Iḳlīms after the Greeks. Considering the variety of information accumulated in it, his work may be described as a ‘small encyclopaedia of historical and geographical knowledge’.

Like Ibn Rusta, Ibn al-Faḳīh al-Hamad̲h̲ānī also arranged his geographical material on a regional basis in his Kitāb al-Buldān (written c. 290/903). The description of Mecca takes precedence over other places, and the general arrangement of the subject-matter resembles that of al-Iṣṭak̲h̲rī and Ibn Ḥawḳal. He incorporated the account of the merchant Sulaymān on India and China, but the special feature of his work is that, along with trustworthy and authentic information, it records long pieces of verse, various traditions and information of a legendary character. The work is poor in the treatment of general and mathematical geography.

Abu ’l-Ḥasan ʿAlī b. al-Ḥusayn al-Masʿūdī (d. 345/956), the celebrated historian, combined the qualities of an experienced traveller with those of a geographer of high distinction. Unfortunately his own account of his travels ( Kitāb al-Ḳaḍāyā wa ’l-tad̲j̲ārib ) is not extant, but an approximate idea of his travels can be formed from his extant works, namely, Murūd̲j̲ al-d̲h̲ahab wa maʿādin al-d̲j̲awhar and al-Tanbīh wa ’l-is̲h̲rāf (the work entitled Ak̲h̲bār al-zamān , etc. ed. ʿAbd Allāh al-Ṣāwī, Cairo 1938, and a MS of the Maulana Azad Library, Muslim University, ʿAlīgaŕh (Qutbuddin Collection, MS No. 36/1) entitled Kitāb ʿAd̲j̲āʾib al-dunyā (in the colophon Kitāb al-ʿAd̲j̲āʾib ) are both wrongly attributed to al-Masʿūdī and have nothing to do with his great work Kitāb Ak̲h̲bār al-zamān which is lost). Al-Masʿūdī regarded geography as a part of history, which explains the fact that his works deal with geography as an introduction to history. He drew upon the earlier geographical writings in Arabic as well as upon contemporary travel accounts and maritime literature. This he reinforced by the information collected by himself during his travels or from people whom he met. He does not give any systematic topographical account ¶ of the ʿAbbāsid Empire or deal with routes of the kingdom or postal stations, but he presents an excellent survey of contemporary Arab knowledge on mathematical and physical geography. However, al-Masʿūdī’s main contribution was in the field of human and general geography. He advanced geographical science by challenging certain theories and concepts of Arab geographers which he found baseless in the light of his own experience and observation. He did not hesitate even to question the age-old theories of the Greek masters like Ptolemy, e.g., the existence of land in the southern hemisphere. In the field of human and physical geography he emphasized the influence of the environment and other geographical factors on the physique and character of animals, plants and human beings. Al-Masʿūdī was also influenced by Iranian geographical traditions, e.g., the Seven kis̲h̲war system, considering ʿIrāḳ as the central and the best iḳlīm in the world and Bag̲h̲dād as the best city, etc.

An outstanding geographer of this period whose influence on the development of Arab geography was as varied and deep as that of Ibn K̲h̲urradād̲h̲bih was the Sāmānid wazīr Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad b. Aḥmad al-D̲j̲ayhānī (earlier part of the 4th/10th century). Unfortunately, his work Kitāb al-Masālik wa ’l-mamālik (the Kābul MS has nothing to do with the great work of D̲j̲ayhānī, see V. Minorsky, A false Jayhānī , in BSOAS, xiii, 1949-50, 89-96) has not come down to us; but it is quite likely that al-D̲j̲ayhanī used the original text of Ibn K̲h̲urradād̲h̲bih’s Kitāb al-Masālik. Being in the privileged position of a wazīr and writing in Buk̲h̲ārā he ‘could extend the field of his investigation much deeper into central Asia and the Far East than was possible for his Arab contemporaries’ (Minorsky, Marvazī , etc. 6-7, London 1942). He collected first-hand information from different sources, hence the importance of his work. A large number of later Arab geographers utilized al-D̲j̲ayhānī’s work which, in the opinion of al-Masʿūdī, was ‘interesting because of its novel information and interesting stories’.

The anonymous Ḥudūd al-ʿālam , written in Persian in 372/982 is one of the earliest works in Persian on world geography. The author utilized numerous earlier Arabic authorities on the subject and he had undoubtedly a copy of the work of al-Iṣṭak̲h̲rī before him. There is a tendency in the work towards completeness and numerical exactitude. Besides, the author is independent of other geographers in his geographical generalizations and terminology. The originality of the author lies in his conception of the division of the inhabited world into ‘parts of the world’ and separate ‘countries’ (see Barthold, Preface to Ḥudūd al-ʿālam, 21-33). The work appeared in an English translation with an excellent commentary by V. Minorsky (London 1937), one of the most exhaustive ever written on any Persian or Arabic geographical work in modern times.

(ii) The Balk̲h̲ī School. To the second main category of writers on general geography belonged al-Iṣṭak̲h̲rī, Ibn Ḥawḳal and al-Muḳaddasī as well as Abū Zayd Aḥmad b. Sahl al-Balk̲h̲ī (d. 322/934) after whom this School is named. Al-Balk̲h̲ī wrote his geographical work Ṣuwar al-aḳālīm (primarily a commentary on maps) in 308/920 or a little later. He spent some eight years in ʿIrāḳ and had studied under al-Kindī. He had travelled widely before his return to his native place and had acquired a high reputation for knowledge and erudition. However, ¶ probably in the later part of his life he held orthodox views and wrote several treatises which were highly appreciated in orthodox circles. Although the text of al-Balk̲h̲ī’s geographical work has not yet been separately established, and the MSS, at one time attributed to al-Balk̲h̲ī, have now been proved to be of al-Iṣṭak̲h̲rī, the view of De Goeje still seems to hold good that the work of al-Iṣṭak̲h̲rī represents a second and greatly enlarged edition of al-Balk̲h̲ī’s work, compiled between 318/930 and 321/933, in al-Balk̲h̲ī’s lifetime.

The geographers of the Balk̲h̲ī School gave a positive Islamic colouring to Arab geography. In addition to restricting themselves mainly to Islamic lands, they laid emphasis on such geographical concepts as found concurrence in the Ḳurʾān or were based on the traditions and sayings of the Companions of the Prophet and others, e.g., they compared the land-mass with a big bird (see above). This was in conformity with a tradition attributed to ʿAbd Allāh b. ʿAmr b. al-ʿĀṣ (Ibn al-Faḳīh, 3-4). Again, the land-mass, round in shape, was encompassed by the ‘Encircling Ocean’ like a neck-ring, and from this Ocean the two ‘gulfs’ (the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean) flowed inwards without joining each other, being separated by al-Barzak̲h̲ [q.v.], the ‘barrier’ at al-Ḳulzum, a concept found in the Ḳurʾān (see above). Again, unlike some geographers of the ʿIrāḳī School, the geographers of the Balk̲h̲ī School assigned to Arabia the central place in the world, for it had Mecca and the Kaʿba in it. These new trends in the methodology and treatment of the subject-matter became the dominant feature of the geographers of this School, and must in all probability have been a culmination of the early process wherein Mecca was given precedence over ʿIrāḳ by one group of geographers. The prime object of these later geographers was to describe exclusively the bilād al-Islām which they divided into twenty iḳlīms, except that they discussed the non-Islamic lands in general in their introductory notes. The basis of the division of these ‘provinces’ was neither the Iranian kis̲h̲war system nor the Greek system of Climes. It was territorial and purely physical. This was a positive advancement on previous methods and in a way ‘modern’. As pointed out by Ibn Ḥawḳal (2-3) he did not follow the pattern of the ‘seven iḳlīms’ (of the map at al-Ḳawād̲h̲iyān, see above), for although it was correct, it was full of confusion, with some overlapping of the boundaries of the ‘provinces’. Hence he drew a separate map for each section describing the position of each ‘province’, its boundaries and other geographical information. An important contribution made by these geographers was that they systematized and enlarged the scope of geography by including in it new topics with a view to making it more useful and interesting, for they believed that a much wider range of people were interested in it, like the kings, the people of muruwwa and the leading sections of all classes (Ibn Ḥawḳal, 3). In cartography, besides drawing the regional maps on a more scientific basis, they may be said to have introduced the element of perspective. They drew a round map of the world showing the various ‘regions’ of the bilād al-Islām and other non-Islamic ‘regions’ of the world. The aim was to bring them in proper perspective and to show the relative position and size of each. But since it did not represent the true size and shape (round, square or triangular) of the respective iḳlīms, they mapped each in a magnified form. Their drawing these on a purely physical basis was ¶ probably the first experiment of its kind in Arab cartography. The maps of al-Iṣtạk̲h̲rī and Ibn Ḥawḳal are, in this respect, superior to those of al-Idrīsī, who divided the seven latitudinal Climes into ten longitudinal sections each and drew a map for each section separately with the result that these sectional maps do not represent geographical units but geometrical divisions. Al-Iṣṭak̲h̲rī, Ibn Ḥawḳal and al-Muḳaddasī present for the first time the concept of a country as defined in geographical terms, and even go so far as to delimit the boundaries of each, just as they define the boundaries of the four main kingdoms of the world.

Abū Isḥāḳ Ibrāhīm b. Muḥammad al-Fārisī al-Iṣṭak̲h̲rī (first half of the 4th/10th century) seems to have been mainly responsible for spreading the ideas of the Balk̲h̲ī School. Little is known of his life, but he travelled a good deal and incorporated the experiences of his travels in his work al-Masālik wa ’l-mamālik (a new edition of this work has appeared recently, ed. by M. D̲j̲ābir ʿAbd al-ʿĀl al-Ḥīnī, Cairo 1961). There is little doubt that the work was based on that of Abū Zayd al-Balk̲h̲ī. Al-Iṣṭak̲h̲rī’s work served as an authentic source of information for the geographers of this School. It was translated into Persian and became the basis of many Persian works on geography.

Abu ’l-Ḳāsim Muḥammad b. Ḥawḳal, a native of Bag̲h̲dād, completed his geography entitled Kitāb Ṣūrat al-arḍ (2nd ed. J. H. Kramers, Leiden 1938) in c. 366/977. From his childhood, Ibn Ḥawḳal was interested in geography and had travelled widely between 331/943 and 357/968. He was so devoted to geography that the works of al-Ḏj̲ayhānī, Ibn K̲h̲urradād̲h̲bih and Ḳudāma never parted from him during his travels. About the first two he says that they so engaged him that he was unable to devote any attention either to the other useful sciences or to the Traditions. However, what prompted him to write his work was that he found none of the existing works on the subject satisfactory. He claims to have improved the work of al-Iṣṭak̲h̲rī whom he had met. However, the claims of Ibn Ḥawḳal may not be accepted unequivocally, for the similarity between the works of the two geographers itself suggests that Ibn Ḥawḳal must have been considerably indebted to al-Iṣṭak̲h̲rī. There is little doubt, however, that he ranks among the most outstanding geographers of the period, for in cartography he shows independence and individuality and does not follow others slavishly. Besides, he incorporated new information based on his travels or acquired from hearsay. He remained an authentic source of information for the succeeding geographers for several centuries to come.

Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad b. Aḥmad al-Mukạddasī (d. 390/1000), the author of Aḥsan al-taḳāsīm fī maʿrifat al-aḳālīm was a very original and scientific geographer of his time. He rightly claims to have put Arab geography on a new foundation and given it a new meaning and wider scope. Since he considered the subject useful to many sections of society, as also to the followers of various vocations, he widened its scope, including in it a variety of subjects ranging from physical features of the iḳlīm (region) under discussion to mines, languages and races of the peoples, customs and habits, religions and sects, character, weights and measures and the territorial divisions, routes and distances. He believed that it was not a science that was acquired through conjecture ( ḳiyās ), but through direct observation and first-hand information. Hence he laid his main emphasis on what ¶ was actually observed and was reasonable. From the earlier writers he borrowed what was most essential ‘without stealing from them’. Thus, according to the nature of the sources of information, his work may be divided into three parts: what he observed himself; what he heard from trustworthy people; and what he found in written works on the subject. Al-Muḳaddasī is one of the few Arab geographers who discusses geographical terminology and specific connotations of certain phrases and words used, besides giving a synopsis and an index of the iḳlīms , districts, etc., in the introduction of his work for the benefit of those who want to get an idea of the contents quickly or wish to use it as a traveller’s guide. Unlike Iṣṭak̲h̲rī and Ibn Ḥawḳal, al-Muḳaddasī divided the Mamlakat al-Islām into fourteen iḳlīms (seven ʿarab and seven ʿad̲j̲am ) perhaps to conform to the belief that there were seven climes north of the Equator and seven others to its south, an idea attributed to Hermes, the legendary figure known to the Arabs as an ancient philosopher of Egypt. In this respect he differed from Abū Zayd al-Balk̲h̲ī and al-D̲j̲ayhānī, whom he however considered Imāms (here authorities). An important feature of his work is that like a mufassir he discusses at length certain questions relating to general geography, e.g., the number of the seas, etc., in order to bring them into conformity with the Ḳurʾānic verses relating to them.

(d) Trade and exploration: the maritime literature:

An important aspect of the development of Arabic geographical literature of this period was the production of the maritime literature and travel accounts, which enriched the Arabs’ knowledge of regional and descriptive geography. This became possible firstly, because of the political expansion of the Muslims and the religious affinity felt by them towards one another irrespective of nationality or race, and secondly, because of the phenomenal increase in the commercial activities of the Arab merchants. Incentive to travel and exploration was provided by several factors, viz ., pilgrimage to Mecca, missionary zeal, deputation as envoys, official expeditions, trade and commerce, and, last but not least, the mariners’ profession.

From very ancient times the Arabs played the rôle of intermediaries in trade between the East (India, China, etc.) on the one hand and the West (Egypt, Syria, Rome, etc.) on the other. But with the foundation of Bag̲h̲dād as the capital of the ʿAbbāsid Empire and the development of the ports of Baṣra and Sīrāf, the actual and personal participation of the Arabs now extended as far as China in the east and Sofala on the east coast of Africa. They had learned and mastered the art of navigation from the Persians, and by the 3rd/9th century Arab navigators had become quite familiar with the monsoon and trade winds, and their boats sailed not only along the coasts but direct to India from Arabia. They had become intimate with the various stretches of the sea between the Persian Gulf and the Sea of China, which they divided into the Seven Seas giving each a specific name. Again, they sailed from Aden to East Africa as far south as Sofala and freely sailed on the Red Sea, the Mediterranean, the Black Sea and the Caspian and also on a number of navigable rivers including the Nile and the Indus. Although their boats were small as compared to those of the Chinese, and the Indian Ocean was infested with whales, they performed long and ¶ hazardous voyages with courage and fortitude. They used sea-charts ( rahmānīs and dafātir ). Al-Masʿūdī ( Murūd̲j̲ , i, 233-4) records names of certain captains of boats whom he knew and expert sailors of the Indian Ocean; similarly, al-Muḳaddasī (10-11) gives the name of an expert merchant-sailor whom he consulted on the question of the shape of the Indian Ocean. Aḥmad b. Mād̲j̲id ([q.v.], see also below) speaks of an old rahmānī composed by Muḥammad b. S̲h̲ādān, Sahl b. Abbān and Layt̲h̲ b. Kahlān (lived in the later part of the 3rd/9th century), but he considered them much below the standard (see Hourani, Arab seafaring, 107-8). Since none of these charts is extant, it is not possible to make a correct assessment of the contribution made by these early Arab navigators to nautical geography.

With the development of Arab navigation, Arab trade also expanded. With a strong political power in the Middle East and a developing economy at home, the Arabs acquired considerable importance as traders in the East. The sphere of their trade not only widened, but became more intensive. They even traded by barter with the primitive tribes of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, whose languages they did not understand. Arab trade with China declined from about the end of the 3rd/9th century, for it is said that in the peasant rebellion under Huang Ch’ao (A.D. 878) large numbers of foreigners were massacred in China. From this time onwards Arab boats went only as far as Kala, a port on the western coast of the Malay Peninsula, no longer existing.

The Arabs’ urge to explore new lands was mainly prompted by a desire for trade and rarely for the sake of exploration. Although some instances of early Arab adventures and exploration are recorded, many of these seem to have been ‘wonder tales’ (e.g., the interpreter Sallām’s account of his trip to the wall of Gog and Magog under the orders of the Caliph Wāt̲h̲iḳ (227-32/842-7), see Minorsky, Ḥudūd al-ʿālam , 225). The story of a certain young man of Cordova (Spain) who sailed with a group of young friends on the Atlantic Ocean and then returned after some time, laden with booty, may have had some historical truth in it (al-Masʿūdī, i, 258-9). On the whole the Arabs of this period did not make any substantial contribution to or improve upon the knowledge acquired from the Greeks. There is no doubt however that in regard to certain regions, viz ., North and East Africa, West Asia, Middle Asia, India and a few other countries, their information was much more authentic and intimate.

The fact that the Arabs did not explore the regions unknown to them, even those of which they had a theoretical knowledge, may be explained by several factors: wherever the trade incentive was satisfied, they did not proceed beyond that point; secondly, certain notions or preconceived ideas continuously dominated their thought and dissuaded them from taking a bold step, e.g., the Atlantic was a Sea of Darkness and a Muddy Spring ( al-ʿayn al-ḥamiʾa ). For the same reason they did not sail further south along the east coast of Africa, for they believed that there were high tidal waves and sea commotion there, although al-Bīrūnī, on the basis of certain evidence discovered in the 3rd/9th century, namely, the discovery in the Mediterranean of planks from boats of the Indian Ocean (see above), had conceived that the Indian Ocean was connected with the Atlantic by means of narrow passages south of the sources of the Nile ( Ṣifa , 3-4). Lastly, the fear of encountering aboriginal tribes and cannibals ¶ of the East Indies must have prevented the Arabs from sailing further east.

Among the travel accounts of this period that have survived, one of the earliest is that attributed to the merchant Sulaymān, who performed several voyages to India and China and described his impressions of the lands and the peoples in the travelogue Ak̲h̲bār al-Ṣin wa ’l-Hind (235/850). The work is a testimony of the keen but academic interest taken by Arab merchants in conveying to the Arabic-reading peoples of the time unique and interesting information about the distant lands of the East. This account was first published in 302/916 by Abū Zayd al-Ḥasan of Sīrāf along with other accounts collected and verified by him in a work entitled Silsilat al-tawārīk̲h̲ . Abū Zayd was apparently a well-to-do person, and although he had not himself travelled, he was keenly interested in gathering information from travellers and merchants and in recording it. He met al-Masʿūdī at least twice and exchanged much information with him. Al-Masʿūdī, who represented the finest spirit of exploration of his time, had travelled very widely and sailed on many seas including the Caspian and the Mediterranean. He must have discussed with Abū Zayd the discovery near Crete of the planks of a boat belonging to the Arabian Sea. This was a unique phenomenon for it was believed that the Arabian Sea had no connexion with the Mediterranean. Al-Masʿūdī came to the conclusion that the only possibility was that these planks may have flowed towards the East into the Eastern Sea (the Pacific) and then northwards and finally, through the k̲h̲alīd̲j̲ (an imaginary channel flowing down from the northern Encircling Ocean into the Black Sea) into the Mediterranean (Murūd̲j̲, i, 365-6). The fact that they both recorded this unique discovery is evidence of their concern about geographical problems. It also shows that interest in geography was dynamic during this period, and had not become static as in the later period.

An interesting writer of this period was Buzurg b. S̲h̲ahriyār, the captain of Rāmhurmuz (299-399/912-1009) who compiled a book of maritime tales, entitled Kitāb ʿAd̲j̲āʾib al-Hind in about 342/953. The book relates a number of very amusing and very strange stories concerning the adventures of the sailors in the Islands of the East Indies and other parts of the Indian Ocean. These were apparently composed for the general reader, and though mostly fantastic, they cannot be completely brushed aside as untrue and ignored in any serious study of Arab geography and exploration. It seems that during this period there was a great demand for wonderful and amusing tales, which fact is borne out by the existence of several MSS in Arabic dealing with ʿad̲j̲āʾib literature.

This period was on the whole marked by a spirit of enquiry and investigation and exploration among the Arabs. But the maritime literature, most of which seems to have perished, posed itself against the theoretical knowledge derived from the Greek and other sources. Hence at times there was a contradiction between theory and practice, and this was the fundamental problem with which the Arab geographers and travellers were faced. It was this conflict between theory and practice that finally determined the course of the development of Arab geography in the later period. When the ‘practicalists’ gave way to the theoreticians, the decline of Arab geography became certain. Why the word of the sailor, the traveller and the merchant was not ¶ given due credence is difficult to explain, but a large amount of maritime literature must have perished through either neglect or animosity.

(e) Al-Bīrūnī and his contemporaries:

The 5th/11th century may be taken as the apogee of the progress of Arab geography. The geographical knowledge of the Arabs, both as derived from the Greeks and others and as advanced by themselves through research, observation and travel, had, by this period, reached a very high level of development. Besides, geographical literature had acquired a special place in Arabic literature, and various forms and methods of presenting geographical material had been standardized and adopted. The importance of al-Bīrūnī’s contribution to Arab geography is two-fold: firstly, he presented a critical summary of the total geographical knowledge up to his own time, and since he was as well-versed in Greek, Indian and Iranian contributions to geography and in that of the Arabs, he made a comparative study of the subject. He pointed out that the Greeks were more accomplished than the Indians, thereby implying that the methods and techniques of the former should be adopted. But he was not dogmatic, and held some important views that were not in conformity with Greek ideas. Secondly, as an astronomer he not only calculated the geographical positions of several towns, but measured the length of a degree of latitude, thus performing one of the three important geodetic operations in the history of Arab astronomy. He made some remarkable theoretical advances in general, physical and human geography. On the basis of the above-mentioned discovery in the Mediterranean of the planks of an Arabian Sea boat a hundred years earlier, he conceived the theoretical possibility of the existence of channels connecting the Indian Ocean with the Atlantic, south of the Mountains of the Moon and the Sources of the Nile. But these were difficult to cross because of high tides and strong winds. He argued that just as towards the east, the Indian Ocean had penetrated the northern continent (Asia) and had opened up channels, similarly, to balance them, the continent has penetrated the Indian Ocean towards the west; the sea there is connected through channels with the Atlantic. Thus, although theoretically he laid down the possibility of circumnavigating the South African coast, in practice it was never accomplished by the Muslims. The idea, however, persisted until the time of the arrival of the Portuguese, when it was hinted by al-Nahrwālī that the Portuguese might have taken this route. Al-Bīrūnī conceived that the land-mass was surrounded by water, that the centre of ‘Earth’s weight’ shifted and caused physical changes on its surface, e.g., fertile lands turned barren, water turned into land and vice versa. He described very clearly various concepts and the limits of the inhabited parts of the earth of his time, for which he seems to have had recourse to some contemporary sources which were not available to the earlier geographers. He made an original contribution to regional geography by describing India in detail.

Among the astronomers of the 5th/11th century one who deserves mention was Ibn Yūnus, Abu ’l-Ḥasan ʿAlī b. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān (d. 399/1009). While al-Bīrūnī was working in India and other places, Ibn Yūnus made valuable observations in the observatory on the Mt. al-Muḳaṭṭam in Egypt under the patronage of the Fāṭimid caliphs al-ʿAzīz and al-Ḥakīm. The results of his observations ¶ recorded in the al-Zīd̲j̲ al-kabīr al-Ḥākimī became an important source of up-to-date astronomical and geographical knowledge for the scientists of the Islamic East.

Among the geographers and travellers contemporary to al-Bīrūnī there was the Ismāʿīlī poet-traveller Nāṣir-i K̲h̲usraw (d. 452/1060 or 453/1061) whose travel account entitled Safar-nāma written in Persian covers the author’s personal experiences in and descriptions of Mecca and Egypt.

Abū ʿUbayd ʿAbd Allāh b. ʿAbd al-Azīz al-Bakrī (d. 487/1094) was the best representative of lexicography of the period in as far as place-names were concerned. His geographical dictionary Muʿd̲j̲am mā ‘staʿd̲j̲am min asmāʾ al-bilād wa ’l-mawāḍiʿ is an excellent literary-cum-geographical work. It discusses the orthography of place-names of the Arabian peninsula mainly, furnishing literary evidence from Arabic literature, ancient Arabian poetry, Ḥadīt̲h̲ , ancient traditions, etc. His second geographical treatise Kitāb al-masālik wa ’l-mamālik has not survived in its entirety. Al-Bakrī was, however, more a litterateur than a geographer [see abū ʿubayd al-bakrī ].

(V) The period of consolidation

(6th/12th-10th/16th centuries)

From the 6th/12th to the 10th/16th century Arab geography displayed continuous signs of decline. The process was chequered and with some exceptions like the works of al-Idrīsī and Abu ’l-Fidāʾ the general standard of works produced was low compared to those of the earlier period. The scientific and critical attitude towards the subject and emphasis on authenticity of information that was the mark of the earlier writers gave place to mere recapitulations and résumés of the traditional and theoretical knowledge found in the works of earlier writers. This was, in a way, the period of consolidation of geographical knowledge, and the literature may be divided into eight broad categories:

(a) World geographical accounts:

The tradition of describing the world as a whole as practised by the geographers of the classical period continued to be followed by some geographers of this period, but works dealing exclusively with the world of Islam had become rare, for the ʿAbbāsid Empire had itself disintegrated. The pattern of description and arrangement was also different from the earlier works. There was a tendency towards rapprochement between astronomical and descriptive geography in these works, and Greek influence was still prominent in some works, while Persian influence had comparatively diminished probably because of the production of geographical literature in Persian as well. But geographical activity had expanded and places like Syria, Sicily and Spain had become important centres of geographical learning, and some very important works were produced there.

Among the important works on world geography and astronomy produced during this period we may mention Muntahā al-idrāk fī taḳsīm al-aflāk by ¶ Muḥammad b. Aḥmad al-K̲h̲araḳī (d. 533/1138-9); Kitāb al-Ḏj̲ug̲h̲rāfiyā by Muḥammad b. Abū Bakr al-Zuhrī of Granada (lived towards 531/1137); Nuzhat al-mus̲h̲tāḳ fi ’k̲h̲tirāḳ al-āfāḳ by al-S̲h̲arīf al-Idrīsī (d. 56/1166); Kitāb al-Ḏj̲ug̲h̲rāfiyā fi ’l-aḳālīm al-sabʿa by Ibn Saʿīd (d. 672/1274); and Taḳwīm al-buldān by Abu ’l-Fidā (d. 731/1331).

Al-Zuhrī’s work was based on the Greek system of iḳlīms and represented the trend of rapprochement between astronomical and descriptive geography. The work of al-Idrīsī, which also represents this tendency, is a fine example of Arab-Norman cooperation in geographical activities. It was produced at Palermo under the patronage of the Norman king Roger II. Al-Idrīsī, who was a prince, and belonged to the Ḥammūdid dynasty, was neither a renowned traveller nor a trained geographer before he joined the court of Roger. The aim of Roger in calling him to his court seems to have been to utilize his personality for his own political objectives. There is little doubt, however, that Roger was interested in geography and he was able to collect a team of astronomers and geographers in his court. As a result of their efforts, for the first time in the history of Arab cartography, seventy regional maps based on the Ptolemaic system of climes were drawn, and a large silver map of the world constructed. The total geographical information acquired from contemporary as well as earlier Greek or Arab sources was classified according to the relevant sections each of which formed a description of one of these maps. The work was an important contribution to physical and descriptive geography. The work of Ibn Saʿīd was based on the clime-system. It also gives the latitudes and longitudes of many places which facilitates their reconstruction into a map. By this time Syria had become an important centre of geographical activities. Abu ’l-Fidāʾ, the Syrian prince, historian and geographer, completed his important compendium on world geography in 721/1321. The work gives latitudes and longitudes of places and treats the subject-matter on a regional basis. It is arranged in a systematic way and covers descriptive, astronomical and human geography. The author seems to have utilized some contemporary sources, for we find some new information which is not available in earlier works.

(b) Cosmological works:

During this period several works were produced which dealt not only with geography but also with cosmology, cosmogony, astrology and such other topics. The main purpose of these works seems to have been to present in a consolidated and systematic form world knowledge for the benefit of the average reader. No doubt the authors utilized earlier Arabic sources, but on the whole the material is presented uncritically, and there is hardly any question of investigation or research, and the zeal of enquiry is totally lacking. The tendency to produce such works was mainly due to the decline in education and learning which affected the progress of geographical knowledge.

The following are some of the works that belong to this category: Tuḥfat al-albāb (or al-aḥbāb ) wa nuk̲h̲bat al-ʿad̲j̲āʾib by Abū Ḥāmid al-G̲h̲arnāṭī (d. 565/1169-70); ʿAd̲j̲āʾib al-buldān and Āt̲h̲ār al-bilād by al-Ḳazwīnī (d. 682/1283); Nuk̲h̲bat al-dahr fī ʿad̲j̲āʾib al-barr wa ’l-baḥr by al-Dimas̲h̲ḳī (d. 727/1327); K̲h̲arīdat al-ʿad̲j̲āʾib wa farīdat al-g̲h̲arāʾib by Ibn al-Wardī (d. 861/1457).¶

(c) The ziyārāt literature:

A special feature of this period was that a number of works dealing with the towns and places of religious significance or places of pilgrimage were produced. These were not purely descriptive or topographical works. They dealt with the holy spots of Islam, tombs of saints, the takyas of the ṣūfīs and ribāts along with educational institutions ( madrasas ) specializing in various schools of the S̲h̲arīʿa and other such topics. One finds in them detailed accounts of place-names in various towns like Mecca, Damascus, etc. On the whole such works were meant to be religious guides for pilgrims and devotees, and represent the period of religious reaction in Islam. Among the representative works of this type of literature are: Is̲h̲ārāt ilā maʿrifat al-ziyārāt by al-Harawī (d. 611/1214); al-Dāris fī tāʾrīk̲h̲ al-madāris by ʿAbd al-Ḳādir Muḥammad al-Nuʿaymī (d. 648/1520); in the Maulana Azad Library, ʿAlīgaŕh Muslim University, there exists a MS (S̲h̲ērwānī Collection, MS No. 27/34) which, in all probability, is an abridgment of al-Nuʿaymī’s original work, written 50 years after his death.

(d) Muʿd̲j̲am literature or Geographical dictionaries:

The traditions of geographical studies developed in Syria bore many fruitful results. Besides the Compendium of Abu ’l-Fidāʾ and the ziyārāt literature, Yāḳūt al-Ḥamawī (d. 626/1229) produced one of the most useful works in Arabic geographical literature, namely, Muʿd̲j̲am al-buldān . Completed in 621/1224, this geographical dictionary of place-names, which includes other historical and sociological data, was in keeping with the literary and scientific traditions of the earlier period, and represents the consummation of geographical knowledge of the time. As a reference book it is indispensible even to-day for the student of Arab historical geography. The fact that Yāḳūt crowned the work with an introduction on Arab geographical theories and concepts and physical and mathematical geography shows the depth of knowledge of the author. The work also represents that period of Arab geographical development when scholars thought in terms of compiling geographical dictionaries, which would not have been possible without the vast amount of geographical literature that had already come into existence by this time and without the geographical tradition that was present in Syria. Another important work of Yāḳūt is the Kitāb al-Mus̲h̲tarik waḍʿan wa’l-muk̲h̲talif ṣaḳʿan , composed in 623/1226.

(e) Travel accounts:

During this period the Arabs’ knowledge of regional and descriptive geography was considerably enriched by the production of travel literature in Arabic on a large scale. Besides the usual incentives for travel like the pilgrimage to Mecca or missionary zeal, the extension of Muslim political and religious influences, especially in the East, had opened up for Muslims new vistas of travel and more opportunities for earning a livelihood.

Among the outstanding travel accounts may be included the work of al-Māzinī (d. 564/1169); the Riḥla of Ibn D̲j̲ubayr (d. 614/1217); Taʾrīk̲h̲ al-Mustanṣir (written in c. 627/1230) by Ibn Mud̲j̲āwir; then the Riḥlas of al-Nabātī (d. 636/1239), al-ʿAbdārī (d. 688/1289), al-Ṭayyibī (698/1299) and al-Tīd̲j̲ānī (708/1308) and others. Whereas these accounts are of great importance for the Middle East, ¶ North Africa and parts of Europe, for they furnish contemporary and often important information, the work of Ibn Baṭṭūṭa [q.v.] (d. 779/1377) entitled Tuḥfat al-nuẓẓār remains the most important mediaeval travel account in Arabic for the lands of India, South-East Asia and other countries of Asia and North Africa.

(f) Maritime literature:

During the period under consideration Arab maritime activities were confined to the Mediterranean and the Arabian Seas. In the Mediterranean the Arab navies, using the term in a broader sense, could never really become all-powerful. They were always busy in sea-wars with the Christian navies and sometimes as many as a hundred men-of-war were employed in the forays. Again, although the Arab navigators were quite familiar with the Mediterranean, sailing on the Atlantic was still dreaded, and there is only one instance of Arab adventure, namely, that of Ibn Fāṭima (648/1250). From the account of his voyage preserved in Ibn Saʿīd it appears that he had reached as far as White mountain (identified with Cape Branco) along the West African coast. On the whole it is difficult to assess the amount of the contribution made by the Arabs of this Sea to nautical geography, for very little is known of their accounts. But with the rise of the Ottoman power in Asia Minor, the Ottoman Navy ultimately became very powerful in the Mediterranean (see VI below).

In the Indian Ocean, however, the Arab navigators maintained their importance until the arrival of the Portuguese. It was S̲h̲ihāb al-Dīn Aḥmad b. Mād̲j̲id (the date of his birth or death is not known) who piloted the boat of Vasco da Gama from Malindi on the east coast of Africa to Calicut in India in 1498. This incident indeed marks the turning point in the history of Arab navigation and trade in the East. The advent of the Portuguese had an adverse effect on the trade and commerce of the Arabs. Their maritime strength was destroyed and their trade systematically ruined by the Portuguese.

Ibn Mād̲j̲id, who spent more than fifty years of his life on the high seas, may be considered as one of the greatest Arab navigators of all times. He wrote thirty nautical texts and was one of the most important Arab writers on oceanography, navigation, etc. His contributions bring him in line with the leading scientists of the period. His most important contribution is the work Kitāb al-Fawāʾid fī uṣūl ilm al-baḥr wa ’l-ḳawāʿid .

Sulaymān b. Aḥmad al-Mahrī, a younger contemporary of Ibn Mād̲j̲id, was another important navigator of this period. He was also author of five nautical works written in the first half of the 10th/16th century. Among these may be mentioned of special importance: al-ʿUmda al-mahriyya fī ḍabṭ al-ʿulūm al-baḥriyya compiled in 917/1511-2 and Kitāb S̲h̲arḥ tuḥfat al-fuḥūl fī tamhīd al-uṣūl .

The works of Ibn Mād̲j̲id and Sulaymān al-Mahrī represent the height of the Arabs’ knowledge of nautical geography. These navigators used excellent sea-charts, which are supposed to have had the lines of the meridian and parallels drawn on them. They also used many fine instruments and made full use of astronomical knowledge for navigation. There is little doubt that their knowledge of the seas was considerably advanced, especially of the Indian Ocean, for in their works they describe in details the coastlines, routes, etc. of the countries they ¶ visited. They were familiar with the numerous islands of the East Indies.

(g) Astronomical literature:

During this period some very important works were produced on astronomy, and one of the most outstanding astronomers of this period was the Tīmūrid prince-mathematician Ulug̲h̲ Beg (d. 853/1449). But with the death of Ulug̲h̲ Beg Muslim astronomical literature may be said to have come to an end, for this was the last scientific effort on the part of a Muslim prince, before the period of decline in Islamic society set in, to revise the data of Ptolemy and to perform independent astronomical observations. The results of Ulug̲h̲ Beg’s observations in which his collaborators also participated were included in the Zīd̲j̲-i d̲j̲adīd-i Sulṭāni .

(h) Regional geographical literature:

Between the 7th/13th and the 10th/16th centuries a large amount of geographical literature, both in Arabic and Persian, came into existence on a regional or ‘national’ basis. Although no outstanding contributions were made by the geographers of this period, regional geographical knowledge was enriched by the efforts of several historians and geographers. Geographical traditions of the classical period were kept up, but there was no originality in thought or practice. In astronomical, physical or human geography no substantial advances were made. The production of literature on regional geography during this period was closely connected with the extension of Islam and Muslim political power in the East, and due to the attention paid by Muslim potentates to historiography and geography mainly for political purposes.

In ʿIrāḳ and Mesopotamia, the old centre of geographical activity, little was produced in geographical literature; Meārat̲h̲ Ḳuds̲h̲ē by Bar Hebraeus (d. 685/1286) showed much influence of Islamic tradition and has a semi-circular world map. In Egypt and Syria the k̲h̲iṭaṭ -literature was produced under the Ayyūbids and the Mamlūks. Interest in the ʿad̲j̲āʾib literature and ancient Egypt from the time of the Ayyūbids resulted in the production of and collection of some fantastic accounts and stories about ancient Egyptian kings (!) and other tales of common interest. However, some new and fresh information on the Muslim states of the East, India and other countries, was also incorporated in these accounts. Authors who wrote on such subjects were Ibrāhīm b. Waṣīf S̲h̲āh (wrote in 605/1209); Nuwayrī (d. 629/1332); Maḳrīzī (d. 845/1441-2); Ibn Faḍl Allāh al-ʿUmarī (d. 749/1348); al-Ḳalḳas̲h̲andī (d. 821/1418) and others. In North Africa, al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī al-Marrākus̲h̲ī wrote D̲j̲āmiʿ- al-mabādī wa ’l-g̲h̲āyāt which gives latitudes and longitudes partly compiled by the author. Ibn K̲h̲aldūn’s Muḳaddima contains a chapter on geography, representing the tradition of some Arab historians of describing the world as a prelude to history.

In Īrān, Central Asia and India some historical works in Persian dealt with regional and descriptive geography, and some monographs on world geography were also produced. The geographical works were mainly based on earlier Arabic authorities; additional contemporary information was included in general histories and accounts of conquests. Among the important works we may mention: Ibn al-Balk̲h̲ī, Fārs-nāma , written in the beginning of the 6th/12th century; Ḥamdallāh al-Mustawfī (d. 740/1340), Nuzhat al-ḳulūb ; Muḥammad b. Nad̲j̲īb Bakrān ¶ (wrote for the K̲h̲wārizm-s̲h̲āh Muḥammad, 596-617/1200-20), Ḏj̲ihān-nāma , which contains some ‘interesting information on the geography of Transoxania’; ʿAbd al-Razzāḳ al-Samarḳandī (d. 887/1482), Maṭlaʿ al-saʿdayn ; Amīn Aḥmad Rāzī, Haft iḳlīm , written in 1002/1594, a biographical work, but contains much valuable geographical information.

Bibliography Arabic geographical literature is too vast to allow any brief survey here. Hence only a select bibliography is given below:

1. Texts, translations and commentaries: Abū Dulaf Misʿar b. al-Muhalhil, al-Risāla al-t̲h̲āniya, ed. V. Minorsky, Cairo 1955

al-Bīrūnī, Kitāb al-Ḳānūn al-Masʿūdī, published by the Dāʾirat al-Maʿārif, Ḥaydarābād (India), 2 vols., 1955

idem, Bīrūnī’s picture of the world (Ṣifat al-maʿmūra ʿalā al-Bīrūnī), ed. A. Zeki Velidi Togan, Memoir ASI, liii, New Delhi 1941 (the work contains texts pertaining to geography selected from al-Bīrūnī’s: 1. al-Ḳānūn al-Masʿūdī, 2. Taḥdīd nihāyāt al-amākin li-taṣḥiḥ masāfāt al-masākin, 3. al-Ḏj̲amāhir fī maʿrifat al-d̲j̲awāhir, and 4. al-Ṣaydana)

Ḥamdallāh Mustawfī, Nuzhat al-ḳulūb, ed. Muḥammad Dabīr Siyāg̲h̲ī, Tehrān 1958

al-Hamdānī, Kitāb Ṣifat Ḏj̲azīrat al-ʿArab, ed. Muḥammad b. Balhīd al-Nad̲j̲dī, Cairo 1953

al-Harawī, ʿAlī b. Abī Bakr, al-Is̲h̲ārāt ilā maʿrifat al-ziyārāt, ed. and French transl. J. Sourdel-Thomine, Damascus 1953-7

Ḥudūd al-ʿālam

Ibn Baṭṭūṭa (Eng. tr. H. A. R. Gibb, i- , Cambridge 1958-)

Ibn Faḍlān, Risāla, second edition of the translation and commentary by A. P. Kovalevsky 1955 (transl. Canard, in AIEO Alger, xvi, 1958)

Ibn Ḥawḳal

Ibn K̲h̲aldūn-Rosenthal

Ibn Mād̲j̲id, Three unknown nautical instructions on the Indian Ocean, published by T. A. Shumovsky, Moscow 1957

al-Idrīsī, Polska i kraje sasiedni w świetle"Ksiegi Rogera”, geografa arabskiego z XII w. al-Idrīsīʾego, cześć i, Kraków, 1945

cześć ii, Warsaw 1954

al-Idrīsī, India and the neighbouring territories in the Kitāb Nuzhat al-mus̲h̲tāḳ fi ’k̲h̲tirāḳ al-āfāḳ of al-S̲h̲arīf al-Idrīsī, tr. and commentary by S. Maqbul Ahmad, Leiden 1960

al-Idrīsī, India and the neighbouring territories as described by the Sharīf al-Idrīsī, ʿAlīgaŕh 1954

al-Iṣṭak̲h̲rī, al-Masālik wa ’l-mamālik, ed. M. D̲j̲ābir ʿAbd al-ʿĀl al-Ḥīnī, Cairo 1961

T. Lewicki, Zrodla arabskie de dziejow stowianszczyzny, i, Wroclaw, Cracow 1956

Muḥammad b. Nad̲j̲īb Bakrān, Ḏj̲ihān-nāma, reproduced with translation by Y. Bors̲h̲čevsky 1960

al-Nuʿaymī, ʿAbd al-Ḳādir, al-Dāris fī taʾrīk̲h̲ al-madāris, 2 vols., Damascus 1948-51

Marwazī, S̲h̲araf al-Zamān Ṭāhir Marvazī on China, the Turks and India, text, tr. and commentary by V. Minorsky, London 1942

Ak̲h̲bār al-Ṣīn wa ’l-Hind, Relation de la Chine et de l’Inde, rédigée en 851, text, French tr. and Notes by Jean Sauvaget, Paris 1948

Yāḳūt, The Introductory chapters of Yāqūt’s Muʿjam al-buldān, tr. and annotated by Wadie Jwaideh, Leiden 1959

R. Blachère and H. Darmaun, Extraits des principaux géographes arabes du moyen âge 2, Paris 1957.

2. General Works: Nafis Ahmad, Muslim contribution to geography, Lahore 1947

Barthold, Turkestan

G. F. Hourani, Arab seafaring, Princeton 1951

Hādī Hasan, A history of Persian navigation, London 1928

G. H. T. Kimble, Geography in the middle ages, London 1938

J. H. Kramers, Geography and Commerce in The legacy of Islam, ed. T. Arnold and A. Guillaume, London 1943 ¶

Analecta Orientalia, posthumous writings and selected minor works of J. H. Kramers, Leiden 1954

I. Y. Kračkovskiy, Arabskay̲a̲ geografičeskay̲a̲ literatura (vol. iv of his collected works), Moscow 1957

Al-Masʿūdī commemoration volume, ed. S. Maqbul Ahmad and A. Rahman, ʿAlīgaŕh 1960

S. Muzaffar Ali, Arab geography, ʿAlīgaŕh 1960 (being the tr. of Section II of M. Reinaud’s Introduction générale à la géographie des Orientaux).

3. Articles: Ziauddin Alavi, Physical geography of the Arabs in the Xth Century A.D., in Indian Geographical Journal, xxii/2, Madras 1947

idem, Arab geography in the 9th and 10th centuries A.D., in Muslim University Journal, ʿAlīgaŕh 1948

Leo Bagrow, The Vasco Gama’s Pilot, in Studi Colombiani, Genoa 1951

S. Q. Fāṭimī, In quest of Kalah, in Journal Southeast Asian History i/2, September 1960

V. Minorsky, A False Jayhānī, in BSOAS, xiii, 1949-50, 89-96

S. Maqbul Ahmad, Al-Masʿūdī’s contribution to mediaeval Arab geography, in IC, xxvii/2, 1953

IC, xxviii/1, 1954

idem. Travels of Abu ’l-Ḥasan ʿAlī b. al-Ḥusayn al-Masʿūdī, in IC, xxviii/4, 1954

C. Schoy, Geography of the Muslims of the Middle Ages, in Geographical Review (American Geographical Society), xiv, 1924, 257-69. Other articles in Pearson, pp. 269-79

idem, Supplement 1956-60, pp. 82-5.

(S. Maqbul Ahmad)

VI. The Ottoman geographers

The Ottoman Turks do not seem to have begun to write geographical works until the middle of the 9th/14th century. The first of these were small cosmographies in the style of Books of Marvels , which treat of the wonders of Creation. The best known of these works is probably the “Well-preserved Pearl” ( Dürr-i meknūn ) by Yazi̊d̲j̲i̊ -og̲h̲lu Aḥmed Bīd̲j̲ān (d. ca. 860/1456) [q.v.], the brother of the early Ottoman poet Yazi̊d̲j̲i̊-og̲h̲lu Meḥemmed (died 855/1451. The same Aḥmed Bīd̲j̲ān was also the first to make a translation of extracts from an Arabic cosmographical work, the ʿAd̲j̲āʾib al-mak̲h̲lūḳāt of Ḳazwīnī (1203-1283), under the same title, in which the stress likewise is less upon scientific knowledge than upon the wonders of Creation (see Rieu, Catal . of Turkish Mss . in the Brit. Mus ., 106 ff.).

Ḳazwīnī’s ʿAd̲j̲āʾib al-mak̲h̲lūḳāt was translated several times into Turkish (Brockelmann, S I, 882, indicates four Turkish translations of the work). Likewise under the same title there were in circulation Turkish translations of Ibn al-Wardī’s (d. 1457) K̲h̲arīdat al-ʿad̲j̲āʾib (indicated in Beiträge zur historischen Geographie .... vornehmlich des Orients , ed. Hans Mžik, Festband Eugen Oberhummer , Leipzig and Vienna 1929, 86 ff.), among them one with some contemporary additions by a man of the early Ottoman period called ʿAlī b. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān (see my articles Der Bericht des arabischen Geographen Ibn al-Wardī über Konstantinopel in Festband Eugen Oberhummer, 84-91, and Ein altosmanischer Bericht über das vorosmanische Konstantinopel in AION, N.S., i, 1940, 181-9). Further, after Sipāhīzāde Meḥemmed b. ʿAlī (d. 997/1588) had produced a new Arabic edition of Abu ’l-Fidā’s Taḳwīm al-buldān under the title Awḍaḥ al-masālik ilā maʿrifat al-buldān wa’l-mamālik with the material arranged in alphabetical order and supplemented (Brockelmann, II, 46), he translated extracts of the work into Turkish under the same title (Brockelmann, S II, 44).¶

One of the last of the translations from earlier geographical works is the “Views of the Worlds” ( Menāẓir al-ʿawālim ) by Meḥmed b. ʿÖmer (not ʿOt̲h̲mān), b. Bāyezīd al-ʿĀs̲h̲i̊ḳ (b. 964/1555, date of death unknown; the book was completed 1006/1598). It consists of two parts, of which the first treats the “world above”, that is, heaven, its inhabitants and the celestial bodies, and, in appendix, a part of the “world below”, that is, hell and its inhabitants. Apart from astronomy, which indeed is only summarily included, this section consists almost exclusively of theology and mythology. But this first part is actually only an introduction. The bulk of the work is contained in the second part, which describes the “world below”, that is, the earth and its inhabitants. It contains first a universal geography, that is, a little general knowledge of the earth, followed by separate descriptions arranged in the mediaeval manner according to natural objects: oceans, islands, swamps and lakes, rivers, springs, warm springs, mountains and finally, comprising the main section of the descriptive geography, cities. In this section all of the geographical material is arranged according to the seven climates of Ptolemy, the “actual climates” ( aḳālīm-i ḥaḳiḳiyye ). Within this framework the localities represented are arranged according to the 28 “traditional climates” ( aḳālīm-i ʿurfiyye ) or regions, a principle which ʿĀs̲h̲i̊ḳ had borrowed from the work of Abu ’l-Fidāʾ, with result that some of the cities treated, according to their location, appear in more than one of the aḳālīm-i ḥaḳīḳiyye , the applications of the two principles thus overlapping. Under each heading ʿĀs̲h̲i̊ḳ indicates in order the reports of his authorities translated into Turkish, of the mediaeval Arabic and Persian writers such as Ibn K̲h̲urradād̲h̲bih, Ibn al-D̲j̲awzī, Yāḳūt, Ḳazwīnī, Ḥamdullāh Mustawfī and Ibn al-Wardī, each with a precise indication of the source. ʿĀs̲h̲i̊ḳ supplements these with his own reports, especially for Anatolia, Rumelia and Hungary, also with precise indication that this particular information derived from the “writer” ( rāḳim al-ḥurūf ), with the date of his visit to the city in question, thus affording a chronological sequence of his travels.

The geography is followed by a universal descriptive natural science, that is, the solid, liquid and gaseous minerals, scents, metals, plants, animals and man. The work in its totality is a broadly sketched compendium of traditional geography and natural science.

Belonging in a wider sense to the translations of geographical literature is the manual of astronomy and mathematics written in Persian by ʿAlī Ḳus̲h̲d̲j̲i (d. 879/1474), formerly director of Ulug̲h̲ Beg’s observatory in Samarḳand and later the court astronomer of Meḥemmed II, which was several times translated into Turkish (see ZDMG, lxxvii, 1923, 40 note 2). To this category also belongs the “China Book” ( Ḵh̲itāy-nāma ) written originally in Persian by Sayyid ʿAlī Akbar K̲h̲itāʾī in 1516, in which the author describes his journey to China in 912-4/1506-8 and his stay of three years there, and which he dedicated to Selīm I. Under Murād III, probably in 990/1582, it was translated into Turkish (see P. Kahle in AO, xii, 91 ff, and Opera Minora 322-3).

In the fields of marine geography and navigation the Ottoman Turks produced original works. In this respect special mention should to made of the work of Pīrī Muḥyi ’l-Dīn Reʾīs (d. 962/1554), a nephew of the famous naval hero Kemāl Reʾīs who knew every corner of the Mediterranean. In 919/1513 he produced a map of the world in two parts, of which only the ¶ western part has been preserved, which he presented to Sultan Selīm I in Cairo (923/1517). For that portion of his work treating the west Pīrī Reʾīs used as sources maps containing the Portuguese discoveries up to 1508, as well as a map, since lost, containing the discoveries made by Christopher Columbus during his third voyage (1498). He had got the latter from a Spanish sailor who had gone with Columbus to America three times and who in 1501 at Valencia had been made a Turkish prisoner by Pīrī Reʾīs’s uncle Kemāl Reʾīs (see P. Kahle, Die verschollene Columbus-Karte vom Jahre 1498 in einer türkischen Weltkarte von 1513, Berlin-Leipzig 1933; idem, A lost map of Columbus, in Opera Minora, Leiden 1956, 247-65; Ibrahim Hakkı, Eski Harıtalar , Istanbul 1936; Afet, Un Amiral Géographe turc du XVI e siècle , Piri Reїs , auteur de la plus ancienne carte de l’Amérique in Belleten , i (1937), 333-49; Sadi Selen, Die Nord-Amerika-Karte des Piri Reїs (1528), ibid. 519-23).

Pīrī Reʾīs then wrote a nautical handbook of the Mediterranean, the Baḥriyye , containing 129 chapters each provided with a map in which he gives an exact description of the Mediterranean and all its parts. His models are Italian portulans and other navigational handbooks, the major part of which have disappeared. He first dedicated the work to Sultan Selīm I in 927/1521. After the latter’s death he prepared a second edition with many additional maps, a modified text, and a poetical introduction of some 1200 verses in Turkish on the lore of the sea and the sailor, which he presented in 932/1525-26 to Sultan Süleymān by means of the Grand Vizier Ibrāhīm Pas̲h̲a (see P. Kahle, Piri Reʾīs und seine Baḥrīye in Beiträge zur historischen Geographie ..., Festband E. Oberhummer , Leipzig-Vienna 1929, 60-76; idem, Baḥriyya , das türkische Segelhandbuch für das Mittelländische Meer vom Jahre 1521, the first part of an unfinished edition, Berlin-Leipzig 1926; the complete work in facsimile, Kitabi Bahriye , Istanbul 1935).

A similar work of marine geography and navigation on the Indian Ocean was written in 961/1554 by Seyyidī ʿAlī Reʾīs b. Ḥüseyn, known as Kātib-i Rūmī (died 970/1562), entitled “The Ocean” ( al-Muḥiṭ ). ʿAlī Reʾīs made use of the experience of South Arabian sailors who had served as guides for Vasco de Gama on his voyage to Calicut, and also translated parts of Suleymān al-Mahrī’s al-ʿUmda al-Mahriyya into Turkish in his work (see W. Tomaschek and M. Bittner, Die topographischen Kapitel des indischen Seespiegels Mohit , Vienna 1897; for the Arabic precursors see Gabriel Ferrand, Relations de Voyages et textes géographiques ..., ii, Paris 1914).

Yet another work of marine geography from a later period is the “Book of the Black and White Seas” ( Kitāb Baḥr al-aswad wa ’l-abyaḍ ) written by Seyyid Nūḥ during the reign of Meḥemmed IV (see F. Babinger, Seyyid Nūḥ and his Turkish sailing handbook in Imago Mundi , xii (1955), 180-2).

A kind of terrestrial counterpart to these works of marine geography is the “Collection of Stations” ( Med̲j̲mūʿ-i menāzil ), an illustrated book by Naṣūḥ al-Maṭrāḳī (dates unknown) in which he describes briefly and depicts separately the stages of Sultan Süleymān Ḳānūnī’s first Persian expedition (940-2/1534-5). It exists only in a single manuscript, in all probability the dedication copy for the sultan, in the University Library in Istanbul, and constitutes an important source for the military routes used by the sultans for their eastern expeditions (see Albert ¶ Gabriel, Les étapes d’une campagne dans les deux Irak d’après un manuscrit turc du XVI e siècle in Syria (1928), 328-41; Franz Taeschner, The itinerary of the first Persian campaign of Sultan Suleyman 1534-36, according to Naṣūḥ al-Maṭrāḳī in Imago Mundi xiii (1956), 53-5; idem, Das Itinerar des ersten Persienfeldzuges des Sultans Süleyman Kanuni nach Matrakçi Nasuh , in ZMDG, 1961).

The campaign itineraries of sultans Selīm I and Süleymān I, as well as those of Murād IV are contained, moreover, in the collection of documents called Müns̲h̲eʾāt al-Selāṭīn of Ferīdūn Aḥmed Beg (d. 991/1583), or his continuator (only the two volume second edition of the Müns̲h̲eʾāt contains the itineraries, Istanbul 1274-75/1857-59; the itineraries there are enumerated in F. Taeschner, Das anatolische Wegenetz nach osmanischen Quellen , i, Leipzig 1924, 20).

The most important comprehensive geographical work, constituting at the same time the transition in Turkey from the mediaeval oriental to the modern European point of view, is the “View of the World” ( Ḏj̲ihānnümā ) of the famous scholar Muṣṭafā b. ʿAbdallāh, known as Kātib Čelebi [q.v.] or Ḥad̲j̲d̲j̲ī K̲h̲alīfa (1017-67/1609-57). The work has a complicated history. Kâtib Čelebi began it twice and twice it remained uncompleted. In 1058/1648 he had begun it as cosmography in the medieval style of such works as the one mentioned above of Meḥmed ʿĀs̲h̲i̊ḳ, which he used and acknowledged. After he had described oceans, rivers and lakes, he started on lands, of which the western came first, Muslim Spain and North Africa. The lands of the Ottoman Empire were to follow as the main section, which he began with the three imperial capitals, Bursa, Edirne and Constantinople, followed by the provinces of the European half of the empire, Rumelia, Bosnia and Hungary (from a manuscript of this version in Vienna, J. von Hammer translated Rumeli UND Bosna , Vienna 1812; see F. Taeschner, Die Vorlage von Hammers “Rumeli UND Bosna” in MOG, i (1923-25), 308-10).

When Kātib Čelebī had reached the heading Hatván in writing the description of Hungary he came across a copy of the Atlas Minor of Gerhard Mercator, edited by Jodocus Hondius in 1621 at Arnheim. He abandoned the D̲j̲ihānnümā and from 1064/1654 on, with the help of a French renegade, Meḥmed Efendi Ik̲h̲lāṣī, he worked at a translation of the atlas, to which he gave the title Lewāmiʿ al-nūr fī ẓulumāt-i Aṭlās Mīnūr .

When this work was two-thirds finished Kâtib Čelebi began again to write his Ḏj̲ihānnümā, according to a new plan based on the western model. This time however he began in east Asia for which he used, in addition to European, Oriental sources as well, such as the K̲h̲itāy-nāme of ʿAlī Akbar; these preponderated the further west he moved. When he had progressed in his description from east to west as far as Armenia (Eyālet of Vān), death hastened on by an accident stayed his hand (1067/1657). Thus the second version of his work also remained unfinished.

Yet another European work was to provide the impulse for the continuation of the Ḏj̲ihānnümā and eventually its completion. On 14 August 1668 the Dutch envoy Colier presented to Sultan Meḥemmed IV in Edirne on behalf of his government a copy of the Latin edition in eleven volumes of Blaeu’s Atlas Maior sive Cosmographia Blaviana (1662). A few years later, in 1086/1675, the Sultan had this work translated into Turkish by Abū Bakr b. Bahrām ¶ al-Dimas̲h̲ḳī (d. 1102/1691). Abū Bakr published his translation under the title Nuṣrat al-Islām wa ’l-surūr fī taḳrīr-i Aṭlas Māyūr , and based on it, with the further use of other, especially, Oriental sources, produced a “Major Geography” ( D̲j̲ug̲h̲rāf̣iyā-yi kebīr ) (see P. Kahle, The Geography of Abu Bekr Ibn Behram ad-Dimashki : Ms. A.S. 575 of the Chester Beatty Collection).

When later, in 1140/1728, the Hungarian renegade Ibrāhīm Müteferriḳa established the first printing-press in Istanbul, the Ḏj̲ihānnümā of Kātib Čelebi became the eleventh product (in 1145/1732) in the new Turkish art of printing. As a basis for this edition Ibrāhīm used the second version of the work, that is, the description of Asia begun by Kātib Čelebi, and supplemented this with the corresponding portions (“insertions”, lāḥiḳa ) from the work of Abū Bakr, so that the printed edition included the complete description of Asia. In the introductory chapters containing astronomical, mathematical and geographical data, he brought the work up to date by means of series of “printer’s addenda” ( tad̲h̲yīl al-ṭābiʿ ) (see F. Taeschner, Zur Geschichte des Djihānnumā in MSOS ii, 29 (1926), 99-111; idem., Das Hauptwerk der geographischen Literatur der Osmanen , Kâtib Çelebis Gihannüma in Imago Mundi 1935, 44-7; Kâtip Čelebi , Hayatı ve eserleri hakkında incelemeler , Ankara 1957: on the Ḏj̲ihānnümā the essay by Hamit Sadi Selen, 121-36).

In 1153/1740 one S̲h̲ehrīzāde Aḥmed b. Müd̲h̲ehhib Saʿīd (d. 1178/1764-5) undertook a further continuation of Kātib Čelebi’s Ḏj̲ihānnümā with the title Rawḍat al-anfus . But the work was never printed owing on the one hand to the death of Ibrāhīm Müteferriḳa (1157/1744) after which the press was silenced and, on the other hand, to the influx of original European literature in the face of which Turkish productions in the geographical field lost in originality and thereby in interest.

Concerning travel descriptions those of ʿAlī Akbar from China and his sojourn there have been mentioned. Worthy also of indication is the brief description by Seyyidī ʿAlī Reʾīs of his journey to India and, after the unsuccessful Ottoman naval expedition against the Portuguese in the Indian Ocean, his fortunate return to the sultan’s court in Edirne. These are contained in the tiny book Mirʾāt al-mamālik (completed 964/1557 and printed Istanbul 1313; Eng. tr., A. Vambéry, Travels and adventures of the Turkish Admiral Sidi Ali Reїs .... during the years 1553-1556, London 1899).

The major work, however, in the field of travel description is the great, ten-volume “Travel Book” ( Seyāḥatnāme ) or “History of the Traveller” ( Taʾrīk̲h̲-i seyyāḥ ) of Ewliyā b. Derwīs̲h̲ Meḥemmed Ẓillī, usually known as Ewliyā Čelebi [q.v.]. It is a unique work in the entire literature of the Islamic peoples. For forty years (1631-1670) Ewliyā Čelebi travelled in every direction throughout the Ottoman Empire and its neighbouring lands, largely as field chaplain in the retinues of dignitaries, governors and ambassadors, as well as with divisions of the army. His work is thus a kind of memoir and contains in addition to a knowledge of the lands which he visited many insights into the higher politics of his period. Besides his own experiences he has mingled the results of his reading and the manifold products of his lively imagination in the work. Through his contacts with political personalities and his participation in their destinies, Ewliyā Čelebi’s book has become an important record for the history of his times.¶

A stimulation to travel description was provided by the annual pilgrimage to Mecca. There are indeed, especially from the 18th century, a series of texts which describe the journey from Üsküdar, the point of departure on the Asiatic coast of the Bosphorus for pilgrims to Mecca, and the ceremonies accomplished in Mecca. Most of the pilgrims limited their descriptions to the latter and touched only in passing the voyage itself. Some, however, did describe the journey and for that reason are of importance from the point of view of geography. The most detailed of these is “The ceremonies of the pilgrimage” ( Manāsik al-ḥad̲j̲d̲j̲ ) by Meḥemmed Edīb (1193/1779) (printed in Istanbul 1232/1816-17; Fr. tr. by M. Bianchi, Itinéraire de Constantinople à la Mecque in Recueil des Voyages et des Mémoires publiés par la Société de Géographie , ii, Paris 1825, in which the work is wrongly dated 1093/1682 instead of 1193/1779).

To travel literature in a certain sense belong also the reports from the ambassadors of the Porte to European courts ( Sefāretnāme ). These belong at the same time to the category of historical literature, for which reason they are generally included by the historiographers of the Empire in their works (enumerated by me in ZDMG, lxxvii (1923), 75-8; more completely by Faik Reşit Unat in Tarih Vesikaları , reprinted in Resimli Tarih Mecmuası , 8 August 1950) (see further elči ).

A brief word may also be said concerning cartography. Pīrī Reʾīs’s world map of 1513, originally in two parts, has already been described above. In his sailing manual for the Mediterranean (the Baḥriyye ), Pīrī Reʾīs included in each chapter, after the fashion of the Italian portulans and probably based on them, a map representing the region of the Mediterranean treated in the respective chapter. The late editor of the periodical Imago Mundi , Leo Bagrov, had in his possession such a map of the entire Mediterranean with parallel meridians, based on a mistaken planispheric concept.

The manuscripts of the first version of Kātib Čelebi’s Ḏj̲ihānnümā have in the margins finely sketched maps of the Liwā ( Sand̲j̲aḳ ) in question. The 1145/1732 printing of the D̲j̲ihānnümā is provided with full-page maps, obviously in the style of contemporary European cartography, but with inverse orientation (north at the bottom). From the workshop of the printer Ibrāhīm Müteferriḳa came as well a manuscript map of the Near and Middle East, now preserved in the Austrian Military Archives, dated either 1139/1726-7 or 1141/1728-9 (see F. Taeschner, Das anatolische Wegenetz nach osmanischen Quellen , ii, Leipzig 1926, 62 ff.).

In conclusion brief reference may be made to the world map known as that of Ḥad̲j̲d̲j̲ī Aḥmed of Tunis, dated 967/1559, in the Marciana in Venice. At one time believed to be of Muslim origin, this has now been shown to be of European manufacture, prepared for the Muslim market (V. L. Ménage, ‘The Map of Hajji Aḥmed’ and its makers, in BSOAS, xxi, 1958, 271-314; see also George Kish, The suppressed Turkish map of 1560, Ann Arbor (William L. Clements library, 1957 [includes facsimile]).

Bibliography in the article, and general: F. Taeschner, Die geographische Literatur der Osmanen, in ZDMG, lxxvii (1923), 31-80

F. Babinger, Die Geschichtsschreiber der Osmanen und ihre Werke, Leipzig 1927, in which the geographical writers are also discussed

Abdülhak Adnan-Adıvar, Osmanlı Türklerinde Ilim, Istanbul 1943

idem, La science chez les Turcs Ottomans, Paris 1939.

(Fr. Taeschner)

Cite this page

Ahmad, S. Maqbul and Taeschner, F., “D̲j̲ug̲h̲rāfiyā”, in: Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition, Edited by: P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel, W.P. Heinrichs. Consulted online on 28 January 2017 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1573-3912_islam_COM_0194>
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