Page:A dictionary of Islam.djvu/15



AARON. Arabic Harun (هارون). The account given of Aaron in the Qur'an will be found in the article on Moses. In Surah xix. 29, the Virgin Mary is addressed as "the Sister of Aaron." [MARY, MOSES.]

ABAD (ابد). Eternity; without end, as distinguished from Azal (ازل), without beginning.

'ABASA (عبس). "He frowned." The title of the LXXXth chapter of the Qur'an. It is said that a blind man, named 'Abdu 'llah ibn Umm Maktum. once interrupted Muhammad in conversation with certain chiefs of Quraish. The Prophet, however, took no notice of him, but frowned and turned away; and in the first verse of this Surah, he is represented as reproved by God for having done so:—"He frowned and turned his back, for that the blind man came unto him."

'ABBAS (عباس). The son of 'Abdu 'l-Muttalib, and consequently the paternal uncle of Muhammad. The most celebrated of the "Companions," and the founder of the Abbaside dynasty, which held the Khalifate for a period of 509 years, namely, from 749 to  1258. He died in 32. His son Ibn-'Abbas was also a celebrated authority on Islamic traditions and law. []

ABBASIDES. Arabic al-'Abbasiyah (العباسية). The name of a dynasty of Khalifahs descended from al-'Abbas, the son of Abdu 'l-Muttalib, and a paternal uncle of Muhammad. On account of their descent from so near a relation of the Prophet, the Abbasides had, ever since the introduction of Islam, been very high in esteem amongst the Arabs, and had at an early period begun to excite the jealousy of the Umaiyade Khalifahs, who after the defeat of 'Ali occupied the throne of the Arabian Empire. The Abbasides had for some time asserted their claims to the Khalifate, and in 746 they commenced open hostilities. In 749 the Abbaside Khaliifah Abu 'l-'Abbas, surnamed as-Saffah, "the blood-shedder," was recognied as Khalifah at al-Kufah, and Marwan II., the last of the Umaiyade Khalifahs, was defeated and slain.

Thirty-seven Khalifahs of the Abbaside dynasty reigned over the Muhammadan empire, extending over the period from 132 ( 749-50) to  656 ( 1258).

The names of the Abbaside Khalifahs are:—Abu 'l-'Abbas as-Saffah ( 749), al-Mansur ( 754), al-Mahdi ( 775), al-Hadi ( 785), Harun ar-Rashid ( 786), al-Amin ( 809), al-Ma'mun ( 813), al-Mu'tasim ( 833), al-Wasiq ( 842), al-Mutawakkil ( 847), al-Muntasir ( 861), al-Musta'in ( 862), al-Mu'tazz ( 866), al-Muhtadi ( 869), al-Mu'tamid ( 870), al-Mu'tazid ( 892)), al-Muktafi ( 902), al-Muqtadir ( 908), al-Qahir ( 932), ar-Razi (a.d. 934), al-Muttaqi ( 940), al-Mustaqfi ( 944), al-Muti' ( 945), at-Tai ( 974), al-Qadir ( 994), al-Qaim ( 1031), al-Muqtadi ( 1075), al-Mustazhir ( 1094), al-Mustarshid ( 1118), ar-Rashid ( 1135), al-Muqtafi ( 1136), al-Mustanjid ( 1160), al-Mustazi ( 1170), an-Nasir ( 1180), az-Zahir ( 1225). al-Mustansir ( 1226), al-Musta'sim ( 1242 to 1258).

In the reign of al-Musta'sim Hulaku, grandson of Jingiz Khan, entered Persia and became Sultan 1256. In 1258 he took Baghdad and put the Khalifah al-Musta'sim to death. [KHALIFAH.]

ABDAL (ابدال). "Substitutes," pl. of Badal. Certain persons by whom, it is said, God continues the world in existence. Their number is seventy, of whom forty reside in Syria, and thirty elsewhere. When one dies another takes his place, being so