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98-430: Features Types Types Features Clothing Genres Art music Folk Prose Islamic Poetry Genres Forms Arabic prosody National literatures of Arab States Concepts Texts Fictional Arab people South Arabian deities Belly dance ( Arabic : رقص شرقي , romanized :  Raqs sharqi , lit.   'oriental dance')

196-507: A desert island . A Latin translation of Philosophus Autodidactus first appeared in 1671, prepared by Edward Pococke the Younger, followed by an English translation by Simon Ockley in 1708, as well as German and Dutch translations. Robert Boyle 's own philosophical novel set on an island, The Aspiring Naturalist , may have been inspired by the work. Beginning in the 19th century, fictional novels and short stories became popular within

294-593: A grandson of Caliph Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik , escaped to Muslim Spain, where he founded the Emirate of Córdoba , which his descendant, Abd al-Rahman III , transformed into a caliphate in 929. Under the Umayyads, Al-Andalus became a centre of science, medicine, philosophy and invention during the Islamic Golden Age . The Caliphate of Córdoba disintegrated into several independent taifa kingdoms in 1031, thus marking

392-617: A great influence on the development of the Egyptian style and became famous, like Samia Gamal and Taheyya Kariokka , both of whom helped attract eyes to the Egyptian style worldwide. Professional belly dance in Cairo has not been exclusive to native Egyptians, although the country prohibited foreign-born dancers from obtaining licenses for solo work for much of 2004 out of concern that potentially inauthentic performances would dilute its culture. (Other genres of performing arts were not affected.) The ban

490-521: A much older story written both in Arabic and Assyrian , the author also displays in his work his deep knowledge of sufism , hurufism and Bektashi traditions. Muhayyelât is considered to be an early precursor of the new Turkish literature to emerge in the Tanzimat period of the 19th century. Cultural Muslim poetry is influenced by both Islamic metaphors and local poetic forms of various regions including

588-718: A revolt by the people of Medina and Ibn al-Zubayr in Mecca. Yazid's cousin, Uthman ibn Muhammad ibn Abi Sufyan , and the Umayyads residing in Medina, led by Marwan, were expelled. Yazid dispatched his Syrian army to reassert his authority in the Hejaz and relieve his kinsmen. The Umayyads of Medina joined the Syrians in the assault against the rebels in Medina and defeated them at the Battle of al-Harra . The Syrians proceeded to besiege Mecca , but withdrew upon

686-566: A strong influence on the Turkish style. Belly dance today is a dance used by various artists among which are Rihanna , Beyoncé , Fergie , however the greatest representative of this dance is the Colombian singer Shakira , who led this dance to position it as her trademark, with her songs Whenever Wherever and Ojos Así , however thanks to the song Hips Don't Lie , her hip dance skills became known worldwide. Also, thanks to Whenever Wherever in 2001,

784-635: A tolerant, intellectual island where I can deal with Dostoyevsky and Sartre, both great influences for me". The International Prize for Arabic Fiction is a literary prize managed in association with the Booker Prize Foundation in London and supported by the Emirates Foundation in Abu Dhabi . The prize is for prose fiction by Arabic authors. Each year, the winner of the prize receives US$ 50,000 and

882-472: A variant with a rope entangling it in her body and dancing to the rhythm of Whenever Wherever. Shakira is the only artist in the music industry who has used belly dance on several occasions in her artistic career. She inspired Beyoncé to explore this type of dance in her Beautiful Liar collaboration where she also acted as choreographer. At the Super Bowl LIV Halftime Show event she returned to

980-429: A vowel followed by a single-rhyming letter. The most common form of Persian poetry comes in the ghazal, a love-themed short poem made of seven to twelve verses and composed in the monorhyme scheme. Urdu poetry is known for its richness, multiple genres, traditions of live public performances through Mushairas , Qawwali and Ghazal singing in modern times. Ferdowsi 's Shahnameh , the national epic poem of Iran ,

1078-505: Is a Middle Eastern dance that originated in Egypt , which features movements of the hips and torso. A Western-coined exonym , it is also referred to as Middle Eastern dance or Arabic dance . It has evolved to take many different forms depending on the country and region, both in costume and dance style; with the styles and costumes of Egypt being the most recognized worldwide due to Egyptian cinema . Belly dancing in its various forms and styles

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1176-558: Is a mythical and heroic retelling of Persian history . Amir Arsalan was also a popular mythical Persian story. Beginning in the 15th century Bengali poetry , originating depicts the themes of internal conflict with the nafs , Islamic cosmology , historical battles, love and existential ideas concerning one’s relationship with society. The historical works of Shah Muhammad Sagir , Alaol , Abdul Hakim , Syed Sultan and Daulat Qazi mixed Bengali folk poetry with Perso-Arabian stories and themes, and are considered an important part of

1274-500: Is believed to have had a long history in the Middle East . Several Greek and Roman sources including Juvenal and Martial describe dancers from Asia Minor and Spain using undulating movements, playing castanets , and sinking to the floor with "quivering thighs", descriptions that are certainly suggestive of the movements that are today associated with belly dance. Later, particularly in the 18th and 19th centuries, European travellers in

1372-574: Is modern classical (known as "al-jadid"). In the 1870s, Shafiqa al-Qibtiyya was the most famous bellydancer in all of Egypt's theatres and casinos, she was admired by the nation and widely celebrated. The modern Egyptian belly dance style and the modern belly dance costumes of the 19th century were featured by the Awalim . For example, many of the dancers in Badia's Casinos went on to appear in Egyptian films and had

1470-508: Is not considered part of the Umayyad dynasty because he was chosen by consensus ( shura ) among the inner circle of Muslim leadership and never attempted to nominate an Umayyad as his successor. Nonetheless, as a result of Uthman's policies, the Umayyads regained a measure of the power they had lost after the Muslim conquest of Mecca. The assassination of Uthman in 656 became a rallying cry for

1568-505: Is noted for its controlled, precise movements. Although belly dance is traditionally seen as a feminine art, the number of male belly dancers has increased in recent years. Belly dance is referred to in Turkey as Oryantal Dans, or simply 'Oryantal' literally meaning orient . Many professional dancers and musicians in Turkey continue to be of Romani heritage, and the Roma people of Turkey have had

1666-745: Is popular across the globe where it is taught by a multitude of schools of dance. "Belly dance" is a translation of the French term danse du ventre . The name first appeared in 1864 in a review of the Orientalist painting The Dance of the Almeh by Jean-Léon Gérôme . The first known use of the term "belly dance" in English is found in Charles James Wills, In the land of the lion and sun: or, Modern Persia (1883). Raqs sharqi ('Eastern Dance' or 'Dance of

1764-506: Is universally recognized. The following attempt at categorization reflects the most common naming conventions: In addition to these torso movements, dancers in many styles will use level changes, traveling steps, turns, and spins. The arms are used to frame and accentuate movements of the hips, for dramatic gestures, and to create beautiful lines and shapes with the body. Other movements may be used as occasional accents, such as low kicks and arabesques, backbends, and head tosses. Belly dancing

1862-409: The Arabic language and Arabic literature ; science ; and medicine . Three of the prizes are widely considered as the most prestigious awards in the Muslim world. Umayyad dynasty The Umayyad dynasty ( Arabic : بَنُو أُمَيَّةَ , romanized :  Banū Umayya , lit.   'Sons of Umayya') or Umayyads ( Arabic : الأمويون , romanized :  al-Umawiyyūn )

1960-509: The Awalim (primarily musicians and poets), Ghawazi . The Maazin sisters may have been the last authentic performers of Ghawazi dance in Egypt, with Khayreyya Maazin still teaching and performing as of 2020. Belly dancing is part of Egyptian culture, and is part of Arabic culture as a whole. Throughout the Middle East and the Arab diaspora , belly dancing is closely associated with Arabic music that

2058-674: The Muslim culture of Bengal. Ginans are devotional hymns or poems recited by Shia Ismaili Muslims . Dante Alighieri 's Divine Comedy , considered the greatest epic of Italian literature , derived many features of and episodes about the hereafter directly or indirectly from Arabic works on Islamic eschatology : the Hadith and the Kitab al-Miraj (translated into Latin in 1264 or shortly before as Liber scalae Machometi , "The Book of Muhammad's Ladder") concerning Muhammad 's ascension to Heaven, and

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2156-676: The Qays tribes of Qinnasrin, and afterward retook Egypt. Before his death in 685, Marwan voided the succession arrangement, appointing his sons Abd al-Malik and Abd al-Aziz , in that order, instead. Abd al-Aziz was made governor of Egypt and another son, Muhammad was appointed to defeat the Qays tribes of the Jazira . Soon after Abd al-Malik acceded, while he was away on a military campaign, he faced an attempted coup in Damascus by Amr al-Ashdaq. Abd al-Malik suppressed

2254-516: The category of Islamic law dealing with etiquette , or a gesture of greeting . According to Issa J. Boullata, Adab material had been growing in volume in Arabia before Islam and had been transmitted orally for the most part. With the advent of Islam, its growth continued and it became increasingly diversified. It was gradually collected and written down in books, ayrab literature other material adapted from Persian, Sanskrit, Greek, and other tongues as

2352-521: The early Muslim conquests , conquering the Maghreb , Hispania , Central Asia , Sind , and parts of Chinese Turkestan , but the constant warfare exhausted the state's military resources, while Alid and Kharijite revolts and tribal rivalries weakened the state from within. Finally, in 750 the Abbasids overthrew Caliph Marwan II and massacred most of the family. One of the survivors, Abd al-Rahman ,

2450-515: The novelization of various contemporary Islamic literatures and points of confluence with political themes, such as nationalism . Over the centuries, there have been numerous bibliographies and biographical dictionaries attempting to list authors of Islamic literature, including India -born scholar Maulana Mahmud Hasan Khan of Rajasthan , who passed away in 1946 and whose 60-volume M'ojam-ul-Musannifin (Dictionary of Authors) in Arabic provides

2548-405: The tribes of Arabia , "be accepted with caution", but "that too great skepticism with regard to tradition would be as ill-advised as absolute faith in its statements". Della Vida asserts that since the Umayyads who appear at the beginning of Islamic history in the early 7th century were no later than third-generation descendants of Umayya, the latter's existence is highly plausible. By circa 600,

2646-505: The 10th century. The Umayyads longed for the Levant , and they established in al-Andalus the same trees, plants and food crops which their ancestors had cultivated in Syria, serving the same traditional foods. Wholesale importation of Syrian styles of living contributed to an extensive Syrianization of the entire countryside of al-Andalus. In the early 7th century, prior to their conversion to Islam,

2744-495: The 14th century; the number and type of tales have varied from one manuscript to another. Many other Arabian fantasy tales were often called "Arabian Nights" when translated into English , regardless of whether they appeared in any version of The Book of One Thousand and One Nights or not, and a number of tales are known in Europe as "Arabian Nights", despite existing in no Arabic manuscript. This compilation has been influential in

2842-458: The 1890s. These included a Turkish dance, and Crissie Sheridan in 1897, and Princess Rajah from 1904, which features a dancer playing zills , doing "floor work", and balancing a chair in her teeth. Islamic literature The definition of Islamic literature is a matter of debate, with some definitions categorizing anything written in a majority-Muslim nation as "Islamic" so long as the work can be appropriated into an Islamic framework, even if

2940-584: The 25th and the 40th anniversary of the prize. In 1989, in an interview following the fatwa against him for alleged blaspheme in his novel The Satanic Verses , Rushdie said that he was in a sense a lapsed Muslim, though "shaped by Muslim culture more than any other", and a student of Islam. Oman author Jokha Alharthi (b.1978) was the first Arabic-language writer to win the Man Booker International Prize in 2019 with her novel Celestial Bodies . The book focuses on three Omani sisters and

3038-511: The Abbasid massacres of the Umayyad family, Abd al-Rahman ibn Mu'awiya (better known as Abd al-Rahman I), a grandson of Caliph Hisham, made his way to al-Andalus, where the mawali of the Umayyads helped him establish a foothold in the province. Once he established the Emirate of Cordoba in 756, he invited other Marwanids, who were keeping a low profile under Abbasid rule, to settle in the Emirate. He

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3136-623: The Abu al-Is line came the politically important family of Asid ibn Abi al-Is, whose members served military and gubernatorial posts under various Rashidun and Umayyad caliphs. The al-As line produced Sa'id ibn al-As, who served as one of Uthman's governors in Kufa. The most well-known family of the Anabisa branch was that of Harb's son Abu Sufyan Sakhr. From his descendants, the Sufyanids, came Mu'awiya I, who founded

3234-466: The Arab world and beyond, is responsible for appointing six new judges each year, and for the overall management of the prize. The King Faisal Prize ( Arabic : جائزة الملك فيصل ) is an annual award sponsored by King Faisal Foundation presented to "dedicated men and women whose contributions make a positive difference". The foundation awards prizes in five categories: Service to Islam ; Islamic studies ;

3332-557: The Arabic language spread with the expansion of Islam's political dominion in the world. It included stories and saying from the Bible, the Qur’ān, and the Ḥadīth. Eventually, the heritage of adab became so large that philologists and other scholars had to make selections, therefore, each according to his interests and his plans to meet the needs of particular readers, such as students seeking learning and cultural refinement, or persons associated with

3430-446: The Arabic tradition of Qasida actually beginning since ancient pre-Islamic times. Some Sufi traditions are known for their devotional poetry . Arab poetry influenced the rest of Muslim poetry world over. Likewise Persian poetry too shared its influences beyond borders of modern-day Iran particularly in south Asian languages like Urdu Bengali etc.. Genres present in classical Persian poetry vary and are determined by rhyme, which consists of

3528-614: The Banu Makhzum, led by Abu Jahl , as a result of the heavy losses that the Banu Makhzum's leadership incurred fighting the Muslims at the Battle of Badr in 624. An Umayyad chief, Abu Sufyan , thereafter became the leader of the Meccan army that fought the Muslims under Muhammad at the battles of Uhud and the Trench . Abu Sufyan and his sons, along with most of the Umayyads, embraced Islam toward

3626-572: The Banu Umayya's parent clan, the Banu Abd Shams. Mu'awiya, who had been appointed governor of Syria by Umar, retained his post. Two Umayyads, al-Walid ibn Uqba and Sa'id ibn al-As , were successively appointed to Kufa , one of the two main Arab garrisons and administrative centers in Iraq. Uthman's cousin, Marwan ibn al-Hakam , became his chief adviser. Although a prominent member of the clan, Uthman

3724-597: The Islamic sex segregation , but female slaves were trained to entertain male guests in singing and other art forms, such as the qiyan slave artists, who became common during the era of slavery in the Umayyad Caliphate . During the era of slavery in Egypt , female slaves were trained in singing and dancing and given as gifts between men. In the Ottoman Empire , belly dance was performed by women and later, by boys, in

3822-455: The Islamic state such as viziers, courtiers, chancellors, judges, and government secretaries seeking useful knowledge and success in polished quarters. Key early adab anthologies were the al-Mufaḍḍaliyyāt of Al-Mufaḍḍal al-Ḍabbī (d. c. 780 CE); Abū Tammām 's Dīwān al-Ḥamāsa (d. 846 CE); ʿUyūn al-Akhbār , compiled by Ibn Qutayba (d. 889 CE); and Ibn ʿAbd Rabbih 's al-ʿIqd al-Farīd (d. 940 CE). Some scholar's studies attribute

3920-461: The Marwanids were killed in the Abbasid purges of 750. However, a number of them settled in Egypt and Iran, where one of them, Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani , authored the famous source of Arab history, the Kitab al-Aghani , in the 10th century. Uthman, the third Rashidun caliph, who ruled between 644 and 656, left several descendants, some of whom served political posts under the Umayyad caliphs. From

4018-557: The Middle East such as Edward Lane and Flaubert wrote extensively of the dancers they saw there, including the Awalim and Ghawazi of Egypt. In his book, Andrew Hammond notes that practitioners of the art form agree that belly dance is lodged especially in Egyptian culture, he states: "the Greek historian Herodotus related the remarkable ability of Egyptians to create for themselves spontaneous fun, singing, clapping, and dancing in boats on

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4116-608: The Middle East. Although there were dancers of this type at the 1876 Centennial in Philadelphia, it was not until the 1893 Chicago World's Fair that it gained national attention. The term "belly dancing" is often credited to Sol Bloom , the Fair's entertainment director, but he referred to the dance as danse du ventre , the name used by the French in Algeria. In his memoirs, Bloom states, "when

4214-468: The Muslim community). Abu Bakr showed favor to the Umayyads by awarding them a prominent role in the Muslim conquest of Syria . He appointed an Umayyad, Khalid ibn Sa'id ibn al-As , as commander of the expedition, but replaced him with other commanders, among whom was Abu Sufyan's son, Yazid . Abu Sufyan had already owned property and maintained trade networks in Syria. Abu Bakr's successor, Caliph Umar ( r.  634–644 ), while actively curtailing

4312-572: The Nile during numerous religious festivals. It's from somewhere in this great, ancient tradition of gaiety that the belly dance emerged." The courtly pleasures of the Umayyad , Abbasid and Fatimid caliphs included belly dancing, soirée and singing. Belly dancers and singers were sent from all parts of the vast empire to entertain. During this era of slavery in the Muslim world , these artists were often slaves. No free Muslim woman could perform in public due to

4410-582: The Orient') is a broad category of professional forms of the dance, including forms of belly dance popularly known today, such as Raqs Baladi, Sa'idi, Ghawazee, and Awalim. The informal, social form of the dance is known as Raqs Baladi ('Dance of the Country' or 'Folk Dance') in Egyptian Arabic and is considered an indigenous dance. Belly dance is primarily a torso-driven dance, with an emphasis on articulations of

4508-545: The Quraysh had developed trans-Arabian trade networks, organizing caravans to Syria in the north and Yemen in the south. The Banu Umayya and the Banu Makhzum , another prominent Qurayshite clan, dominated these trade networks. They developed economic and military alliances with the nomadic Arab tribes that controlled the northern and central Arabian desert expanses, gaining them a degree of political power in Arabia. Muhammad

4606-573: The Qurayshite opposition to his successor, Muhammad's cousin and son in-law Caliph Ali ibn Abi Talib of the Banu Hashim. The Qurayshite elite did not hold Ali responsible, but opposed his accession under the circumstances of Uthman's demise. Following their defeat at the Battle of the Camel near Basra , during which their leaders Talha ibn Ubayd Allah and Zubayr ibn al-Awwam , both potential contenders of

4704-464: The Umayyad Caliphate in 661, and Mu'awiya I's son and successor, Yazid I . Sufyanid rule ceased with the death of the latter's son Mu'awiya II in 684, though Yazid's other sons, Khalid and Abd Allah, continued to play political roles, and the former was credited as the founder of Arabic alchemy . Abd Allah's son Abu Muhammad Ziyad al-Sufyani , meanwhile, led a rebellion against the Abbasids in 750, but

4802-590: The Umayyad clan, was the third Rashidun caliph, ruling in 644–656, while other members held various governorships. One of these governors, Mu'awiya I of Syria , opposed Caliph Ali in the First Muslim Civil War (656–661) and afterward founded the Umayyad Caliphate with its capital in Damascus . This marked the beginning of the Umayyad dynasty, the first hereditary dynasty in the history of Islam , and

4900-475: The Umayyads, leading representatives of those who had opposed the Prophet [Muhammad] until the latest possible moment, had within thirty years of his death reestablished their position to the extent that they were now at the head of the community which he had founded. In contrast to Uthman's empowerment of the Umayyads, Mu'awiya's power did not rely on the clan and, with minor exceptions, he did not appoint Umayyads to

4998-602: The West since it was first translated by Antoine Galland in the 18th century. Many imitations were written, especially in France. In the 12th century, Ibn Tufail wrote the novel Hayy ibn Yaqdhan , or Philosophus Autodidactus ( The Self-Taught Philosopher ), as a response to al-Ghazali 's The Incoherence of the Philosophers . The novel, which features a protagonist who has been spontaneously generated on an island, demonstrates

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5096-551: The belly dance fever began popularizing it in a large part of Latin America and later taking it to the United States. Over time in her presentations Shakira added this dance mixing it with Latin dances, like Salsa and Afro-Colombian, and she also she expressed that she began to dance these movements since she was little thanks to her Lebanese grandmother. Nowadays the belly dance is a characteristic dance of this singer which presented

5194-517: The belly dance with rope during the transition from Ojos así thus to Whenever Wherever . Belly dance was popularized in the West during the Romantic movement of the 18th and 19th centuries, when Orientalist artists depicted romanticized images of harem life in the Ottoman Empire . Belly dancing has become popular outside the Arab world , and American, European, and Japanese women who have become professional belly dancers dance all over Europe and

5292-484: The biographical sketches of some 40,000 writers from all over the Islamic world. Among the best known works of fiction from the Islamic world is The Book of One Thousand and One Nights ( Arabian Nights ), a compilation of many earlier folk tales set in a frame story of being told serially by the Persian Queen Scheherazade . The compilation took form in the 10th century and reached its final form by

5390-510: The caliphate, died, the mantle of opposition to Ali was taken up chiefly by Mu'awiya. Initially, he refrained from openly claiming the caliphate, focusing instead on undermining Ali's authority and consolidating his position in Syria, all in the name of avenging Uthman's death. Mu'awiya and Ali, leading their respective Syrian and Iraqi supporters, fought to a stalemate at the Battle of Siffin in 657. It led to an indecisive arbitration, which weakened Ali's command over his partisans, while raising

5488-562: The clan by provoking internal divisions. Among the measures taken was the replacement of Marwan from the governorship of Medina in 668 with another leading Umayyad, Sa'id ibn al-As. The latter was instructed to demolish Marwan's house, but refused. Marwan was restored in 674 and also refused Mu'awiya's order to demolish Sa'id's house. Mu'awiya appointed his own nephew, al-Walid ibn Utba ibn Abi Sufyan , in Marwan's place in 678. In 676, Mu'awiya installed his son, Yazid I , as his successor. The move

5586-477: The country's history of slavery. The 1988 Nobel Prize in Literature was given to the Egyptian author Naguib Mahfouz (1911–2006), "who, through works rich in nuance—now clear-sightedly realistic, now evocatively ambiguous—has formed an Arabian narrative art that applies to all mankind". He was the first Muslim author to receive such a prize. With regard to religion Mahfouz describes himself as, "a pious moslem believer". The 2006 Nobel Prize in Literature

5684-432: The dance, and dancers were sometimes arrested and fined. The dance was nicknamed the " hoochie coochie ", or the shimmy and shake. A short film, "Fatima's Dance", was widely distributed in the Nickelodeon theaters. It drew criticism for its "immodest" dancing, and was eventually censored. Belly dance drew men in droves to burlesque theaters, and to carnival and circus lots. Thomas Edison made several films of dancers in

5782-445: The dancers were uncorseted and gyrated their hips was shocking to Victorian sensibilities. There were no soloists, but it is claimed that a dancer nicknamed Little Egypt stole the show. Some claim the dancer was Farida Mazar Spyropoulos , but this fact is disputed. The popularity of these dancers subsequently spawned dozens of imitators, many of whom claimed to be from the original troupe. Victorian society continued to be affronted by

5880-653: The death of Yazid. Afterward, Ibn al-Zubayr declared himself caliph and expelled the Umayyads of the Hejaz a second time. They relocated to Palmyra or Damascus, where Yazid's son and successor, Mu'awiya II , ruled at a time when most provinces of the Caliphate discarded Umayyad authority. After Mu'awiya II died in 684, the junds of Palestine, Homs and Qinnasrin recognized Ibn al-Zubayr, while loyalist tribes in Damascus and al-Urdunn scrambled to nominate an Umayyad as caliph. The Banu Kalb, lynchpins of Sufyanid rule, nominated Yazid's surviving sons Khalid and Abd Allah , but they were considered young and inexperienced by most of

5978-411: The direction of Mecca's military affairs in times of war, instead of an actual field command. This early experience in military leadership proved instructive, as later Umayyads were known for possessing considerable political and military organizational skills. The historian Giorgio Levi Della Vida suggests that information in the early Arabic sources about Umayya, as with all the ancient progenitors of

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6076-417: The end of Muhammad's life, following the Muslim conquest of Mecca . To secure the loyalty of prominent Umayyad leaders, including Abu Sufyan, Muhammad offered them gifts and positions of importance in the nascent Muslim state. He installed another Umayyad, Attab ibn Asid ibn Abi al-Is , as the first governor of Mecca. Although Mecca retained its paramountcy as a religious center, Medina continued to serve as

6174-512: The evaluation of their works, even if they did not intend to infuse their works with religious meaning. Still other definitions emphasize works with a focus on Islamic values, or those that focus on events, people, and places mentioned in the Quran and hadith. An alternate definition states that Islamic literature is any literature about Muslims and their pious deeds. Some academics have moved beyond evaluations of differences between Islamic and non-Islamic literature to studies such as comparisons of

6272-644: The family, their burgeoning alliance with the powerful Banu Kalb tribe as a counterbalance to the influence of the Himyarite tribes who entered the Hims district during the conquest, or the lack of a suitable candidate at the time, particularly amid the plague of Amwas , which had already killed Abu Ubayda and Yazid. Caliph Umar died in 644 and was succeeded by Uthman ibn Affan , a wealthy Umayyad merchant, early convert to Islam, and son-in-law and close companion of Muhammad. Uthman initially kept his predecessors' appointees in their provincial posts, but gradually replaced many with Umayyads or his maternal kinsmen from

6370-453: The genealogical tradition would have lived in the late 5th century, was charged with the maintenance and protection of the Kaʿba and its pilgrims. These roles passed to his sons Abd Shams , Hashim and others. Abd Shams was the father of Umayya , the eponymous progenitor of the Umayyads. Umayya succeeded Abd Shams as the qa'id (wartime commander) of the Meccans. This position was likely an occasional political post whose holder oversaw

6468-487: The harmony of religion and philosophy and the virtues of an inquiring soul. In the same century, Ibn al-Nafis wrote the novel Theologus Autodidactus ( The Self-Taught Theologian ) in response to Ibn Tufail’s work; the novel is a defense of the rationality of prophetic revelation. The protagonists of both these narratives were feral children (Hayy in Hayy ibn Yaqdhan and Kamil in Theologus Autodidactus ) who were autodidactic (self-taught) and living in seclusion on

6566-517: The hips. Unlike many Western dance forms, the focus of the dance is on isolations of the torso muscles, rather than on movements of the limbs through space. Although some of these isolations appear similar to the isolations used in jazz ballet, they are sometimes driven differently and have a different feeling or emphasis. In common with most folk dances, there is no universal naming scheme for belly dance movements. Many dancers and dance schools have developed their own naming schemes, but none of these

6664-573: The influence of the Qurayshite elite in favor of Muhammad's earlier supporters in the administration and military, did not disturb the growing foothold of Abu Sufyan's sons in Syria, which was all but conquered by 638. When Umar's overall commander over the province, Abu Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah , died in 639, he appointed Yazid governor of the Damascus , Palestine and Jordan districts of Syria. Yazid died shortly after and Umar installed his brother Mu'awiya in his place. Umar's exceptional treatment of Abu Sufyan's sons may have stemmed from his respect for

6762-489: The literary circles of the Ottoman Empire . An early example, the romance novel Taaşuk-u Tal'at ve Fitnat (تعشق طلعت و فطنت; "Tal'at and Fitnat in Love"), was published in 1872 by Şemsettin Sami . Other important novels of the period included Muhayyelât by Ali Aziz Efendi , which consists of three parts and was written in a laconical style contrasting with its content, where djinns and fairies surge from within contexts drawn from ordinary real life situations. Inspired by

6860-495: The main branches of the Umayyads were the A'yas and the Anabisa. The former grouped the descendants of Umayya's sons Abu al-As , al-As, Abu al-Is and al-Uways, all of whose names shared the same or similar root, hence the eponymous label, 'A'yas'. The Anabisa, which is the plural form of Anbasa, a common name in this branch of the clan, gathered the descendants of Umayya's sons Harb , Abu Harb, Abu Sufyan Anbasa, Sufyan, Amr and Umayya's possibly adopted son, Abu Amr Dhakwan. Two of

6958-429: The major provinces or his court in Damascus. He largely limited their influence to Medina, where most of the Umayyads remained headquartered. The loss of political power left the Umayyads of Medina resentful of Mu'awiya, who may have become wary of the political ambitions of the much larger Abu al-As branch of the clan—to which Uthman had belonged—under the leadership of Marwan ibn al-Hakam. Mu'awiya attempted to weaken

7056-526: The massacre of Nahr Abi Futrus. All the Umayyad immigrants were granted estates, stipends, command roles in the army, and provincial offices. While all the emirs, and later caliphs, of al-Andalus were direct descendants of Abd al-Rahman I, the families of Abd al-Malik ibn Umar (the Marwani clan) and Habib ibn Abd al-Malik (the Habibi clan) both became prominent at the provincial, military, judicial and cultural levels into

7154-638: The only one to rule over the entire Islamic world of its time. Umayyad authority was challenged in the Second Muslim Civil War , during which the Sufyanid line of Mu'awiya was replaced in 684 by Marwan I , who founded the Marwanid line of Umayyad caliphs, which restored the dynasty's rule over the Caliphate. The Islamic empire reached its largest geographical extent under the Umayyads. The Umayyads drove on

7252-707: The other junds of Syria, with Abd al-Aziz over Damascus, al-Abbas over Homs and Umar over Jordan, as well as giving them command roles in the frontier wars against the Byzantines in Anatolia. He retired his uncle Muhammad ibn Marwan from the Jazira, installing his half-brother Maslama there instead. Al-Walid I's attempt to void his father's succession arrangements by replacing Sulayman with his son Abd al-Aziz failed and Sulayman acceded in 715. Rather than nominating his own sons or brothers, Sulayman appointed his cousin, Umar II ,

7350-560: The other loyalist tribes. Marwan volunteered his candidacy and gained the consensus of the tribes, acceding to the caliphate at a summit in Jabiya in 684. Per the arrangement agreed by the tribes, Marwan would be succeeded by Khalid, followed by Amr al-Ashdaq , the son of Sa'id ibn al-As. Marwan and the allied tribes, led by the Kalb, defeated Ibn al-Zubayr's supporters in Syria, led by the Qurayshite governor of Damascus, al-Dahhak ibn Qays al-Fihri , and

7448-432: The political center of the Muslims. Abu Sufyan and the Banu Umayya relocated to the city to maintain their growing political influence. Muhammad's death in 632 created a succession crisis, while nomadic tribes throughout Arabia that had embraced Islam defected from Medina's authority. Abu Bakr , one of Muhammad's oldest friends and an early convert to Islam, was elected caliph (paramount political and religious leader of

7546-582: The political end of the Umayyad dynasty. The Umayyads, or Banu Umayya, were a clan of the larger Quraysh tribe, which dominated Mecca in the pre-Islamic era . The Quraysh derived prestige among the Arab tribes through their protection and maintenance of the Kaʿba , which at the time was regarded by the largely polytheistic Arabs across the Arabian Peninsula as their most sacred sanctuary. A Qurayshite leader, Abd Manaf ibn Qusayy , who based on his place in

7644-474: The public learned that the literal translation was "belly dance", they delightedly concluded that it must be salacious and immoral ... I had a gold mine." Authentic dancers from several Middle Eastern and North African countries performed at the Fair, including Syria, Turkey and Algeria—but it was the dancers in the Egyptian Theater of The Street in the Cairo exhibit who gained the most notoriety. The fact that

7742-458: The region's Arab tribal nobility. As a result, Mu'awiya became widely recognized as caliph, though opposition by the Kharijites and some of Ali's loyalists persisted at a less consistent level. The reunification of the Muslim community under Mu'awiya's leadership marked the establishment of the Umayyad Caliphate. Based on the accounts of the traditional Muslim sources, Hawting writes that: ...

7840-478: The religion while not believing in a personal connection to God. When asked if he considered himself a Muslim, Pamuk replied: ": "I consider myself a person who comes from a Muslim culture. In any case, I would not say that I'm an atheist. So I'm a Muslim who associates historical and cultural identification with this religion. I do not believe in a personal connection to God; that's where it gets transcendental. I identify with my culture, but I am happy to be living on

7938-427: The revolt and personally executed his kinsman. By 692, he defeated Ibn al-Zubayr, who was killed, and restored Umayyad authority across the Caliphate. Abd al-Malik concentrated power into the hands of the Umayyad dynasty. At one point, his brothers or sons held nearly all governorships of the provinces and Syria's districts. Abd al-Aziz was retained over Egypt until his death shortly before Abd al-Malik's in 705. He

8036-516: The role of Islamisation of Muslim individuals and communities, social, cultural and political behavior by legitimization through various genres like Muslim historiographies , Islamic advice literature and other Islamic literature. The British Indian novelist and essayist Salman Rushdie 's (b.1947) second novel, Midnight's Children won the Booker Prize in 1981 and was deemed to be "the best novel of all winners" on two separate occasions, marking

8134-438: The six shortlisted authors receive US$ 10,000 each. The aim of the award is to recognise and reward excellence in contemporary Arabic fiction writing and to encourage wider readership of good-quality Arabic literature in the region and internationally. The prize is also designed to encourage the translation and promotion of Arabic language literature into other major world languages. An independent board of trustees, drawn from across

8232-465: The son of Abd al-Aziz ibn Marwan, as his successor. While the traditional sources present the choice as related to the persuasion of the court theologian, Raja ibn Haywa , it may have been related to Umar II's seniority and his father's previous position as Marwan I's second successor. The family of Abd al-Malik protested the move, but were coerced into a compromise whereby Yazid II , the son of Abd al-Malik and Atika, would follow Umar II. A survivor of

8330-452: The sons of Abu al-As, Affan and al-Hakam , each fathered future caliphs, Uthman and Marwan I, respectively. From the latter's descendants, known as the Marwanids, came the Umayyad caliphs of Damascus who reigned successively between 684 and 750, and then the Cordoba -based emirs and caliphs of Muslim Spain, who held office until 1031. Other than those who had escaped to al-Andalus, most of

8428-478: The spiritual writings of Ibn Arabi . One term for Islamic literature is al-adab al-islami , or adab . Although today adab denotes literature generally, in earlier times its meaning included all that a well-informed person had to know in order to pass in society as a cultured and refined individual. This meaning started with the basic idea that adab was the socially accepted ethical and moral quality of an urbane and courteous person'; thus adab can also denote

8526-508: The stature of Mu'awiya as Ali's equal. As Ali was bogged down combating his former partisans, who became known as the Kharijites , Mu'awiya was recognized as caliph by his core supporters, the Syrian Arab tribes, in 659 or 660. When Ali was assassinated by a Kharijite in 661, Mu'awiya marched on Kufa, where he compelled Ali's son, Hasan , to cede caliphal authority and gained recognition from

8624-524: The sultan's palace. Belly dance in Egypt has two distinct social contexts: as a folk or social dance. As a social dance, belly dance (also called Raqs Baladi or Raqs Shaabi in this context) is performed at celebrations and social gatherings by ordinary people (male and female, young and old), in their ordinary clothes. In more conservative or traditional societies, these events may be gender segregated, with separate parties where men and women dance separately. Historically, professional dance performers were

8722-455: The work is not authored by a Muslim. By this definition, categories like Indonesian literature , Somali literature , Pakistani literature , and Persian literature would all qualify as Islamic literature. A second definition focuses on all works authored by Muslims, regardless of the religious content or lack thereof within those works. Proponents of the second definition suggest that the Islamic identity of Muslim authors cannot be divorced from

8820-505: Was a member of the Banu Hashim , a Qurayshite clan related to the Banu Umayya through their shared ancestor, Abd Manaf. When he began his religious teachings in Mecca, he was opposed by most of the Quraysh. He found support from the inhabitants of Medina and relocated there with his followers in 622. The descendants of Abd Shams , including the Umayyads, were among the principal leaders of Qurayshite opposition to Muhammad. They superseded

8918-659: Was an Arab clan within the Quraysh tribe who were the ruling family of the Caliphate between 661 and 750 and later of al-Andalus between 756 and 1031. In the pre-Islamic period , they were a prominent clan of the Meccan tribe of Quraysh , descended from Umayya ibn Abd Shams . Despite staunch opposition to the Islamic prophet Muhammad , the Umayyads embraced Islam before the former's death in 632. Uthman , an early companion of Muhammad from

9016-516: Was awarded to the Turkish author Orhan Pamuk "(b. 1952) famous for his novels My Name Is Red and Snow , "who in the quest for the melancholic soul of his native city has discovered new symbols for the clash and interlacing of cultures". Pamuk was the first Turk to receive the Nobel Prize, He describes himself as a Cultural Muslim who associates the historical and cultural identification with

9114-700: Was filled with far more Umayyads than under his Sufyanid predecessors, a result of the clan's exile to the city from Medina. He maintained close ties with the Sufyanids through marital relations and official appointments, such as according Yazid's son Khalid a prominent role in the court and army and wedding to him his daughter A'isha. Abd al-Malik also married Khalid's sister Atika , who became his favorite and most influential wife. After his brother Abd al-Aziz's death, Abd al-Malik designated his eldest son, al-Walid I , his successor, to be followed by his second eldest, Sulayman . Al-Walid acceded in 705. He kept Sulayman as governor of Palestine, while appointing his sons to

9212-500: Was lifted in September 2004, but a culture of exclusivity and selectivity remained. The few non-native Egyptians permitted to perform in an authentic way invigorated the dance circuit and helped spread global awareness of the art form. American-born Layla Taj is one example of a non-native Egyptian belly dancer who has performed extensively in Cairo and the Sinai resorts. Egyptian belly dance

9310-751: Was quoted by al-Maqqari as stating, "among the many [favors] bestowed on us by the Almighty ... is his allowing us to collect in this country our kindred and relatives, and enabling us to give them a share in this empire". Among those who heeded his call were his brother al-Walid and the latter's son al-Mughira, his first cousin Ubayd al-Salam ibn Yazid ibn Hisham, and his nephew Ubayd Allah ibn Aban ibn Mu'awiya. Others who arrived included Juzayy ibn Abd al-Aziz and Abd al-Malik ibn Umar (both grandsons of Marwan I) from Egypt, Bishr ibn Marwan's son Abd al-Malik from Iraq, and al-Walid I's grandson Habib ibn Abd al-Malik, who had escaped

9408-502: Was replaced by Abd al-Malik's son Abdallah . Abd al-Malik appointed his son Sulayman over Palestine, following stints there by his uncle Yahya ibn al-Hakam and brother Aban ibn Marwan . In Iraq, he appointed his brother Bishr over Kufa and a distant cousin, Khalid ibn Abdallah ibn Khalid ibn Asid , in Basra, before combining both cities under the governorship of his trusted general al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf . Abd al-Malik's court in Damascus

9506-565: Was ultimately slain. Abu Sufyan's other sons were Yazid, who preceded Mu'awiya I as governor of Syria, Amr, Anbasa, Muhammad and Utba . Only the last two left progeny. The other important family of the Anabisa were the descendants of Abu Amr, known as the Banu Abi Mu'ayt. Abu Amr's grandson Uqba ibn Abu Mu'ayt was captured and executed on Muhammad's orders during the Battle of Badr for his previously harsh incitement against Muhammad. Uqba's son, al-Walid, served as Uthman's governor in Kufa for

9604-558: Was unprecedented in Muslim politics—earlier caliphs had been elected by popular support in Medina or by the consultation of the senior companions of Muhammad . Mu'awiya's Umayyad kinsmen in Medina, including Marwan and Sa'id, accepted Mu'awiya's decision, albeit disapprovingly. The principle opposition emanated from Husayn ibn Ali , Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr , Abd Allah ibn Umar and Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Bakr , all prominent Medina-based sons of earlier caliphs or close companions of Muhammad. Yazid acceded in 680 and three years later faced

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