Misplaced Pages

#990009

150-603: Sultan Al-Zahir Baybars , also known as Rukn Uddin Baybrus (full name: al-Malik al-Zahir Rukn al-Din Baibars al-Bunduqdari ) was a political and military leader of major historical importance. He played an important role in the establishment of a new mamluk -based regime in Cairo that would rule Egypt and Syria for a long period known as the Mamluk Sultanate (1250–1517). After playing

300-414: A mihrab (a wall niche) that indicates the direction of the qibla. The qibla is also the direction for entering the ihram (sacred state for the hajj pilgrimage); the direction to which animals are turned during dhabihah (Islamic slaughter); the recommended direction to make du'a (supplications); the direction to avoid when relieving oneself or spitting; and the direction to which

450-579: A Dar al-Hadith (school for teaching the sayings of the Prophet ), and the sultan's mausoleum (called a turba ). The complex included a monumental portal with a broad canopy of stone-carved muqarnas (honeycomb or stalactite-like forms) culminating in a shell-like hood, considered one of the most accomplished examples of its kind in Syria. The portal and exterior of the building also demonstrates alternating layers of dark and light stone, known as ablaq masonry. Today,

600-399: A book arguing for a southeastern qibla, writing that the north/northeast qibla was invalid and resulted from a lack of religious knowledge. In reaction, Abdali published a response to their arguments and criticism in an article entitled "The Correct Qibla" online in 1997. The two opinions resulted in a period of debate about the correct qibla. Eventually most North American Muslims accepted

750-601: A central role in repelling the Mongol advance at the Battle of Ain Jalut in 1260 (often cited as a turning point in history) he rose to the position of sultan . During his reign, he undertook a series of effective campaigns against the remaining Crusader states in the Levant , conquering a number of important cities and fortresses such as Antioch and the famous Krak des Chevaliers , which paved

900-555: A combination of diplomacy and military action, allowing the Mamluks of Egypt to greatly expand their empire. In his native Turkic language , Baybars' name means "great panther" or "lord panther" (see also Wiktionary: bay "rich person, noble" + pars "leopard, panther"). Possibly based on the Turkic meaning of his name, Baybars used the panther as his heraldic blazon , and placed it on both coins and buildings. The lion/panther used on

1050-501: A congregational prayer, the imam stands in it or close to it, in front of the rest of the congregation. The mihrab became a part of the mosque during the Umayyad period and its form was standardised during the Abbasid period ; before that, the qibla of a mosque was known from the orientation of one of its walls, called the qibla wall. The term mihrab itself is attested only once in

1200-569: A degree) —causes a more than 100-metre (330 ft) shift from the location of the Kaaba. In comparison, the construction process of a mosque can easily introduce an error of up to five degrees from the calculated qibla, and the installation of prayer rugs inside the mosque as indicators for worshipers can add another deviation of five degrees from the mosque's orientation. A minority of Islamic religious scholars—for example Ibn Arabi ( d.  1240 )—consider ayn al-ka'ba to be obligatory during

1350-598: A desire to be buried near the town of Darayya , but his son judged that he should be buried in a more prestigious location near the great mosque and near the tombs of illustrious Ayyubid sultans, including the Mausoleum of Salah ad-Din . On al-Sa'id's orders, the governor of Damascus, emir Aydamur, purchased a house opposite the 'Adiliyya Madrasa , in the al-Amara neighbourhood near the Great Umayyad Mosque . The house, called Dar al-'Aqiqi , had originally belonged to

1500-680: A discussion with regard to the qibla direction from low Earth orbit , prompting the Islamic authority of his home country, Malaysia , to recommend determining the qibla "based on what is possible" for the astronaut. The qibla is the direction of the Kaaba , a cube-like building at the centre of the Sacred Mosque ( al-Masjid al-Haram ) in Mecca , in the Hijaz region of Saudi Arabia. Other than its role as qibla, it

1650-508: A force from the army from Hama to reinforce his left. The large Mamluk numbers were able to overwhelm the Mongol force, who instead of retreating dismounted from their horses. Some Mongols were able to escape and took up positions on the hills. Once they became surrounded they once again dismounted, and fought to the death. During the celebration of victory, Baybars said that "How can I be happy? Before I had thought that I and my servants would defeat

SECTION 10

#1732852105991

1800-713: A letter to the garrison, supposedly from the Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller in Tripoli, Hugues de Revel , which granted permission for them to surrender. The garrison capitulated and the Sultan spared their lives. The new owners of the castle undertook repairs, focused mainly on the outer ward. The Hospitaller chapel was converted to a mosque and two mihrabs were added to the interior. Baybars then turned his attention to Tripoli, but he interrupted his siege there to call

1950-468: A marker is added (such as lines drawn in the mosque) that can be followed instead of the mihrab . Muslims use various instruments to find the qibla direction when not near a mosque. The qibla compass is a magnetic compass which includes a table or a list of qibla angles from major settlements. Some electronic versions use satellite coordinates to calculate and indicate the qibla automatically. Qibla compasses have existed since around 1300, supplemented by

2100-608: A mosque or when standing for prayers. On the other hand, Muhammad Hadi Bashori in 2014 opines that "correcting the qibla is indeed a very urgent thing", and can be guided by simple methods such as observing the shadow. In the history of the region, disputes about the qibla had also occurred in the then- Dutch East Indies in the 1890s. When the Indonesian scholar and future founder of Muhammadiyah , Ahmad Dahlan , returned from his Islamic and astronomy studies in Mecca, he found that mosques in

2250-641: A night raid. Baybars, however, manage to suppress the rebellion quickly as he surrounded and arrested them all. Al- Kurani and another rebel leaders were executed (crucified) in Bab Zuweila After suppressing the revolt of Sinjar, Baybars then managed to deal with the Ayyubids , while quietly eliminating the prince of Kerak. Ayyubids such as Al-Ashraf Musa, Emir of Homs and the Ayyubid Emir Dynasty of Hama Al-Mansur Muhammad II , who had earlier staved off

2400-523: A part in the Arabic literary renaissance that was ongoing in Syria in that period. In 1919 the " Arab Academy was charged with the supervision of the al-Zahiriyya Library. … Its collection consisted at that time of the surviving manuscripts from different small libraries in Syria. … The collection grew from 2,465 manuscripts to 22,000 volumes between 1919 and 1945." In 1949 a legal deposit law decreed that two copies of every work published in Syria be deposited in

2550-598: A popular Arabic romance recording his battles and achievements. He has a heroic status in Kazakhstan , as well as in Egypt , Palestine , Lebanon and Syria . Al-Madrassa al-Zahiriyya is the school built adjacent to his Mausoleum in Damascus . The Az-Zahiriyah Library has a wealth of manuscripts in various branches of knowledge to this day. Qibla The qibla ( Arabic : قِبْلَة , lit.   'direction')

2700-580: A prayer congregation; Muhammad and his followers immediately changed their direction from Jerusalem to Mecca in the middle of the prayer ritual. The location of this event became the Masjid al-Qiblatayn ("The Mosque of the Two Qiblas"). There are different reports of the qibla direction when Muhammad was in Mecca (before his migration to Medina). According to a report cited by historian al-Tabari and exegete (textual interpreter) al-Baydawi , Muhammad prayed towards

2850-553: A short relationship and after that they got married. There are conflicting stories of whether Aisha returned with Baybars to Egypt or was martyred in Tripoli. One of Baibar's wives was the daughter of Amir Sayf ad-Din Nogay at-Tatari. Another wife was the daughter of Amir Sayf ad-Din Giray at-Tatari. Another wife was the daughter of Amir Sayf ad-Din Tammaji. Another wife was Iltutmish Khatun. She

3000-477: A sphere (as opposed to the conventional trigonometry which deals with those of a two-dimensional triangle). If a location O {\displaystyle O} , the Kaaba Q {\displaystyle Q} , and the north pole N {\displaystyle N} form a triangle on the sphere of the Earth, then the qibla is indicated by O Q {\displaystyle OQ} , which

3150-458: A subject of the Mongol Empire, while at the same time paying tribute to the Mamluks. This isolated Antioch and Tripoli, led by Hethum's son-in-law, Prince Bohemond VI . After successfully conquering Cilicila, Baybars in 1267 settled his unfinished business with Acre, and continued the extermination of remaining crusader garrisons in the following years. In 1268, he besieged Antioch , capturing

SECTION 20

#1732852105991

3300-583: A survey of the main city mosques of Tunisia, in which he found that most were aligned close to 147°. This is the direction of the Great Mosque of Kairouan , originally built in 670 and last rebuilt by the Aghlabids in 862, which is often credited as the model used by the other mosques. Among the mosques surveyed, the Great Mosque of Sousse was the only one with a significant difference, facing further south at 163°. The actual direction to Mecca as calculated using

3450-585: A truce in May 1271. The fall of Antioch had led to the brief Ninth Crusade , led by Prince Edward of England , who arrived in Acre in May 1271 and attempted to ally himself with the Mongols against Baybars. So Baybars declared a truce with Tripoli, as well as with Edward, who was never able to capture any territory from Baybars anyway. According to some reports, Baybars tried to have Edward assassinated with poison, but Edward survived

3600-604: A vassal state of the Mongols and had participated in attacks against Islamic targets in Damascus and Syria. In 1263, Baybars laid siege to Acre , the capital of the remnant of the Kingdom of Jerusalem , although the siege was abandoned when he sacked Nazareth instead. He used siege engines to defeat the Crusaders in battles such as the Fall of Arsuf from 21 March to 30 April. After breaking into

3750-580: Is 17°30′ north of Mecca. Even though a line drawn on world maps—such as those using the Mercator projection—would suggest a southeastern direction to Mecca, the astronomical calculation using the great circle method does yield a north-of-east direction (56°33′). Nevertheless, most early mosques in the United States face east or southeast, following the apparent direction on world maps. As the Muslim community grew and

3900-489: Is almost due north. This apparent counter-intuitiveness is caused by projections used by world maps, which by necessity distort the surface of the Earth. A straight line shown by the world map in using the Mercator projection is called the rhumb line or the loxodrome, which is used to indicate the qibla by a minority of Muslims. It can result in a dramatic difference in some places; for example, in some parts of North America

4050-664: Is also the holiest site for Muslims, also known as the House of God ( Bayt Allah ) and where the tawaf (the circumambulation ritual) is performed during the Hajj and umrah pilgrimages. The Kaaba has an approximately rectangular ground plan with its four corners pointing close to the four cardinal directions . According to the Quran , it was built by Abraham and Ishmael , both of whom are prophets in Islam. Few historical records remain detailing

4200-407: Is derived from the cotangent rule which applies to any spherical triangle with angles A {\displaystyle A} , B {\displaystyle B} , C {\displaystyle C} and sides a {\displaystyle a} , b {\displaystyle b} , c {\displaystyle c} : Applying this formula in

4350-514: Is nowhere near that direction. In various places, there are also the "qiblas of the companions" ( qiblat al-sahaba ), those which were used there by the Companions of the Prophet —the first generation of Muslims, who are considered role models in Islam. Such directions were used by some Muslims in the following centuries, side by side with other directions, even after Muslim astronomers used calculations to find more accurate directions to Mecca. Among

4500-456: Is of somewhat lesser quality, suggesting that this skill was in decline compared to earlier periods. The mihrab (a wall niche symbolizing the direction of prayer ) also features an elaborate composition of marble mosaic paneling forming geometric and foliated patterns. The muqarnas portal (the earliest example of which is the Bimaristan of Nur al-Din ), the marble dadoes, and (to a lesser extent)

4650-600: Is the Craig projection or the Mecca projection, created by the Scottish mathematician James Ireland Craig , who worked at the Survey Department of Egypt, in 1910. His map is centered in Mecca and its range is limited to show the predominantly Muslim lands. Extending the map further than 90° in longitude from the center will result in crowding and overlaps. Historical records and surviving old mosques show that throughout history

Zahiriyya Library - Misplaced Pages Continue

4800-401: Is the direction of the great circle passing through both O {\displaystyle O} and Q {\displaystyle Q} . The qibla can also be expressed as an angle, ∠ N O Q {\displaystyle \angle NOQ} (or ∠ q {\displaystyle \angle q} ), of the qibla with respect to the north, also called

4950-581: Is the direction towards the Kaaba in the Sacred Mosque in Mecca , which is used by Muslims in various religious contexts, particularly the direction of prayer for the salah . In Islam, the Kaaba is believed to be a sacred site built by prophets Abraham and Ishmael , and that its use as the qibla was ordained by God in several verses of the Quran revealed to Muhammad in the second Hijri year . Prior to this revelation, Muhammad and his followers in Medina faced Jerusalem for prayers. Most mosques contain

5100-461: The rasd al-qiblat moments or its antipodal counterparts, or at the same time of the day two days before or after each event, still show accurate directions with negligible difference. Spherical trigonometry provides the shortest path from any point on Earth to the Kaaba, even though the indicated direction might seem counterintuitive when imagined on a flat world map . For example, the qibla from Alaska obtained through spherical trigonometry

5250-594: The Bahri dynasty , succeeding Qutuz . He was one of the commanders of the Egyptian forces that inflicted a defeat on the Seventh Crusade of King Louis IX of France . He also led the vanguard of the Egyptian army at the Battle of Ain Jalut in 1260, which marked the first substantial defeat of the Mongol army and is considered a turning point in history. The reign of Baybars marked the start of an age of Mamluk dominance in

5400-509: The Battle of Dongola . David fled upstream the Nile, eventually entering al-Abwab in the south, which, previously being Alodia's northernmost province, had by this period become a kingdom of its own. The king of al-Abwab, however, handed David over to Baybars, who had him executed. Baybars then completed his conquest of Nubia, including the Medieval lower Nubia which was ruled by Banu Kanz . Under

5550-611: The Black Sea , or Dasht-i Kipchak at the time. There is a discrepancy in Ibn Taghrībirdī 's dating of his birth, since he says it took place in 625 AH (12 December 1227 – 29 November 1228) and also that Baybars was about 24 years old in 1247, which would put his birth closer to 1223. He belonged to the Barli tribe. According to a fellow Cuman and eyewitness, Badr al-Din Baysari, the Barli fled

5700-596: The Eastern Mediterranean and solidified the durability of their military system. He managed to pave the way for the end of the Crusader presence in the Levant and reinforced the union of Egypt and Syria as the region's pre-eminent Muslim state, able to fend off threats from both Crusaders and Mongols, and even managed to subdue the kingdom of Makuria , which was famous for being unconquerable by previous Muslim empire invasion attempts. As sultan, Baybars also engaged in

5850-753: The Idrisid period (8th–10th centuries) up to the Alawi period (17th century to present). While modern calculations yield the qiblas of between 91° (almost due east) in Marrakesh and 97° in Tangier, only mosques constructed in the Alaouite period are constructed with qiblas relatively close to this range. The qibla of older mosques vary considerably, with concentrations occurring between 155°–160° (slightly east of south) as well as 120°–130° (almost southeast). In 2008, Bonine also published

6000-551: The Seventh Crusade lamented: Rage and sorrow are seated in my heart...so firmly that I scarce dare to stay alive. It seems that God wishes to support the Turks to our loss...ah, lord God...alas, the realm of the East has lost so much that it will never be able to rise up again. They will make a Mosque of Holy Mary's convent, and since the theft pleases her Son, who should weep at this, we are forced to comply as well...Anyone who wishes to fight

6150-561: The Templar knights, which had been conquered by Saladin in 1188 but returned to the Kingdom of Jerusalem in 1240. Baybars promised the knights safe passage to the Christian town of Acre if they surrendered their fortress. Badly outnumbered, the knights agreed. Upon surrender, Baybars broke his promise and massacred the entire Templar garrison . On capturing Safed, Baybars did not raze the fortress to

Zahiriyya Library - Misplaced Pages Continue

6300-403: The bridge built by Baybars near al-Ludd (today's Lod ) plays with a rat, which may be interpreted to represent Baybars' Crusader enemies. Baybars was described as a tall man with olive skin and blue eyes . He had broad shoulders, slim legs, and a powerful voice. It was observed that he had cataract in one eye. Baybars was a Kipchak thought to be born in the steppe region north of

6450-541: The great circle —in the Earth's Sphere —passing through the location and the Kaaba. This is the direction of the shortest possible path from a place to the Kaaba, and allows the exact calculation ( hisab ) of the qibla using a spherical trigonometric formula that takes the coordinates of a location and of the Kaaba as inputs ( see formula below ). The method is applied to develop mobile applications and websites for Muslims, and to compile qibla tables used in instruments such as

6600-408: The inhiraf al-qibla . This angle can be calculated as a mathematical function of the local latitude ϕ {\displaystyle \phi } , the latitude of the Kaaba ϕ Q {\displaystyle \phi _{Q}} , and the longitude difference between the locality and the Kaaba Δ L {\displaystyle \Delta L} . This function

6750-569: The qibla compass . The qibla can also be determined at a location by observing the shadow of a vertical rod on the twice-yearly occasions when the Sun is directly overhead in Mecca—on 27 and 28 May at 12:18 Saudi Arabia Standard Time (09:18 UTC), and on 15 and 16 July at 12:27 SAST (09:27 UTC). Before the development of astronomy in the Islamic world, Muslims used traditional methods to determine

6900-412: The 12th century) and Samarkand (180°, 225°, 230°, 240°, and 270° were recorded in the 11th century). According to the doctrine of jihat al-ka'ba , the diverse directions of qiblas are still valid as long as they are still in the same broad direction. In 1990, the scholar of geography Michael E. Bonine conducted a survey of the main mosques of all major cities in present-day Morocco—constructed from

7050-414: The 9th century (3rd century AH ), developed by various scholars, including Habash al-Hasib (active in Damascus and Baghdad c.  850 ), Al-Nayrizi (Baghdad, c.  900 ), Ibn Yunus (10th–11th century), Ibn al-Haytham (11th century), and Al-Biruni (11th century). Today spherical trigonometry also underlies nearly all applications or websites which calculate the qibla. When

7200-509: The Abbasid refugee Abu al-Qasim Ahmad, the uncle of the last Abbasid caliph al-Musta'sim , arrived in Cairo in 1261, Baybars had him proclaimed caliph as al-Mustansir II and duly received investiture as sultan from him. Unfortunately, al-Mustansir II was killed by the Mongols during an ill-advised expedition to recapture Baghdad from the Mongols later in the same year. In 1262, another Abbasid, allegedly

7350-570: The Battle of Elbistan. Baybars told him he was leaving for Sivas to mislead Pervâne and the Mongols as to his true destination. Baybars also sent Taybars al-Waziri with a force to raid the Armenian town of al-Rummana, whose inhabitants had hidden the Mongols earlier. Baybars died in Damascus on 1 July 1277, when he was 53 years old. His demise has been the subject of some academic speculation. Many sources agree that he died from drinking poisoned kumis that

7500-449: The Earth, while the equator is the only line of latitude that is also a great circle (other lines of latitude are centered north or south of the centre of the Earth). The great circle is the theoretical basis in most models that seek to mathematically determine the direction of the qibla from a locality. In such models, the qibla is defined as the direction of the great circle passing through

7650-948: The Kaaba is within one's field of vision. For instance, there are legal opinions that accept the entire southeastern quadrant in Al-Andalus (Islamic Iberian Peninsula ), and the southwestern quadrant in Central Asia, to be valid qibla. Arguments for the validity of jihat al-ka'ba include the wording of the Quran, which commands Muslims only to "turn [one's] face" toward the Great Mosque, and to avoid imposing requirements that would be impossible to fulfill if ayn al-ka'ba were to be obligatory in all places. The Shafi'i school of Islamic law, as codified in Abu Ishaq al-Shirazi 's 11th-century Kitab al-Tanbih fi'l-Fiqh , argues that one must follow

SECTION 50

#1732852105991

7800-425: The Kaaba. Another report, cited by al-Baladhuri and also by al-Tabari, says that Muhammad prayed towards Jerusalem while in Mecca. Another report, mentioned in Ibn Hisham 's biography of Muhammad , says that Muhammad prayed in such a way as to face the Kaaba and Jerusalem simultaneously. Today Muslims of all branches, including the Sunni and the Shia , all pray towards the Kaaba. Historically, one major exception

7950-449: The Mamluks in Nubian affairs. A punitive Mamluk expedition was sent in response, but did not pass beyond the second cataract. Three years later the Makurians attacked and destroyed Aswan, but this time, Baybars responded with a well-equipped army setting off from Cairo in early 1276, accompanied by a cousin of king David named Mashkouda or Shekanda. The Mamluks defeated the Nubians in three battles at Gebel Adda, Meinarti and finally at

8100-438: The Mongol threat, were permitted to continue their rule in exchange for their recognizing Baybars' authority as Sultan. After the Abbasid caliphate in Iraq was overthrown by the Mongols in 1258 when they conquered and sacked Baghdad , the Muslim world lacked a caliph , a theoretically supreme leader who had sometimes used his office to endow distant Muslim rulers with legitimacy by sending them writs of investiture. Thus, when

8250-415: The Mongol's Golden Horde to Egypt resulted in a significant number of Mongols accepting Islam. Baybars was a popular ruler in the Muslim world who had defeated the crusaders in three campaigns, and the Mongols in the Battle of Ain Jalut which many scholars deem of great macro-historical importance. In order to support his military campaigns, Baybars commissioned arsenals, warships and cargo vessels. He

8400-451: The Mongols, but my left wing was beaten by them. Only Allah helped us". The possibility of a new Mongol army convinced Baybars to return to Syria, since he was far away from his bases and supply line. As the Mamluk army returned to Syria the commander of the Mamluk vanguard, Izz al-Din Aybeg al-Shaykhi, deserted to the Mongols. Pervâne sent a letter to Baybars asking him to delay his departure. Baybars chastised him for not aiding him during

8550-399: The Muslim world did not take these caliphs seriously, as they were mere instruments of the sultans, they still lent a certain legitimation as well as a decorative element to their rule. As sultan, Baybars engaged in a lifelong struggle against the Crusader kingdoms in Syria , in part because the Christians had aided the Mongols. He started with the Principality of Antioch , which had become

8700-408: The Quran, but it refers to a place of prayer of the Israelites rather than a part of a mosque. The Amr ibn al-As Mosque in Fustat , Egypt, one of the oldest mosques, is known to have been built originally without a mihrab , though one has since been added. Ayn al-ka'ba ("standing so as to face the Kaaba head-on") is a position facing the qibla so that an imaginary line extending from

8850-471: The Sun appears to " shift " between the Northern and Southern Tropics seasonally; additionally, it appears to move from east to west daily as a consequence of the Earth's rotation. The combination of these two apparent motions means that every day the Sun crosses the meridian once, usually not precisely overhead but to the north or to the south of the observer. In locations between the two tropics—latitudes lower than 23.5° north or south—at certain moments of

9000-438: The Turks is mad, for Jesus Christ does not fight them any more. They have conquered, they will conquer. For every day they drive us down, knowing that God, who was awake, sleeps now, and Muhammad waxes powerful. Baybars also played an important role in bringing the Mongols to Islam . He developed strong ties with the Mongols of the Golden Horde and took steps for the Golden Horde Mongols to travel to Egypt . The arrival of

9150-452: The accord and invade Egypt. Aybak wrote to an-Nassir Yusuf warning him of the danger of these Mamluks who took refuge in Syria, and agreed to grant him their territorial domains on the coast, but an-Nasir Yusuf refused to expel them and instead returned to them the domains which Aybak had granted. In 1255, an-Nasir Yusuf sent new forces to the Egyptian border, this time with many of Aktai's Mamluks, among them Baybars, and Qalawun al-Alfi, but he

SECTION 60

#1732852105991

9300-411: The accurate geographic data necessary for the astronomical methods to yield an accurate result was not available before the 18th and 19th centuries, resulting in further diversity of the qibla. Historical mosques with differing qiblas still stand today throughout the Islamic world . The spaceflight of a devout Muslim, Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor , to the International Space Station (ISS) in 2007 generated

9450-406: The approximate directions of the qibla, starting from the mid-9th century. In the late 9th and 10th centuries, Muslim astronomers developed methods to find the exact direction of the qibla which are equivalent to the modern formula. Initially, this "qibla of the astronomers" was used alongside various traditionally determined qiblas, resulting in much diversity in medieval Muslim cities. In addition,

9600-419: The area had fled to the castle for safety and were kept in the outer ward. As soon as Baybars arrived, he began erecting mangonels , powerful siege weapons which he would turn on the castle. According to Ibn Shaddad , two days later the first line of defences was captured by the besiegers; he was probably referring to a walled suburb outside the castle's entrance. After a lull of ten days, the besiegers conveyed

9750-430: The armies of the Mongols , intending to settle in the Second Bulgarian Empire (named in the sources Wallachia ). They crossed the Black Sea from either Crimea or Alania , where they had arrived in Bulgaria in about 1242. In the meantime, the Mongols invaded Bulgaria , including the regions where the Cuman refugees had recently settled. Both Baybars, who witnessed his parents being massacred, and Baysari were among

9900-403: The assassination because he expected to be rewarded with the governorship of Aleppo for his military success, but Qutuz, fearing his ambition, refused to give him the post. Baybars succeeded Qutuz as Sultan of Egypt. Soon after Baybars had ascended to the Sultanate, his authority was confirmed without any serious resistance, except from Alam al-Din Sinjar al-Halabi , another Mamluk amir who

10050-525: The astronomically calculated qibla. Places long settled by Muslim populations tend to have resolved the question of the direction of the qibla over time. Other countries, like the United States and Canada, have had large Muslim communities only in the past several decades, and the determination of the qibla can be a matter of debate. The Islamic Center of Washington, D.C. was built in 1953 facing slightly north of east and initially puzzled some observers, including Muslims, because Washington, D.C. 's latitude

10200-470: The attempt and returned home in 1272. In 1265 a Mamluk army allegedly raided Makuria as far south as Dongola while also expanding southwards along the African Red Sea coast, thus threatening the Nubians. In 1272 king David marched east and attacked the port town of Aidhab , located on an important pilgrimage route to Mecca . The Nubian army destroyed the town, causing “a blow to the very heart of Islam”. This initiated several decades of intervention by

10350-486: The captives during the invasion and were sold into slavery in the Sultanate of Rum at the slave market in Sivas . Afterwards, he was sold in Hama to 'Alā' al-Dīn Īdīkīn al-Bunduqārī  [ de ] , an Egyptian of high rank, who brought him to Cairo . In 1247, al-Bunduqārī was arrested and the sultan of Egypt, As-Salih Ayyub , confiscated his slaves, including Baybars. Al-Sha'rani (d. 973/1565) counted him among Ibn 'Arabi 's students. In 1250, he supported

10500-508: The city on 18 May. Baybars had promised to spare the lives of the inhabitants, but he broke his promise and had the city razed, killing or enslaving much of the population after the surrender. prompting the fall of the Principality of Antioch . The massacre of men, women, and children at Antioch "was the single greatest massacre of the entire crusading era." Priests had their throats slit inside their churches, and women were sold into slavery. Then he continued to Jaffa , which belonged to Guy,

10650-407: The compilation of astronomical tables. This new science was applied to develop new methods of determining the qibla, making use of the concept of latitude and longitude taken from Ptolemy's Geography as well as trigonometric formulae developed by Muslim scholars. Most textbooks of astronomy written in the medieval Islamic World contain a chapter on the determination of the qibla, considered one of

10800-403: The deceased are aligned when buried . The qibla may be observed facing the Kaaba accurately ( ayn al-ka'ba ) or facing in the general direction ( jihat al-ka'ba ). Most Islamic scholars consider that jihat al-ka'ba is acceptable if the more precise ayn al-ka'ba cannot be ascertained. The most common technical definition used by Muslim astronomers for a location is the direction on

10950-409: The defeat of the Seventh Crusade of Louis IX of France in two major battles. The first was the Battle of Al Mansurah , where he employed an ingenious strategy in ordering the opening of a gate to let the crusader knights enter the town; the crusaders rushed into the town that they thought was deserted to find themselves trapped inside. They were besieged from all directions by the Egyptian forces and

11100-423: The development of practical instruments to calculate the qibla. The qibla found using modern instruments might differ from the direction of mosques, because a mosque might be built before the advent of modern data, and orientation inaccuracies might have been introduced during the building process of modern mosques. When this is known, sometimes the direction of the mosque's mihrab is still observed, and sometimes

11250-418: The direction of sunset—which varies slightly throughout the year. Different opinions exist among Indonesian Islamic astronomers: Tono Saksono et al. argues in 2018 that facing the qibla during prayers is more of a "spiritual prerequisite" than a precise physical one, and that an exact direction to the Kaaba itself from thousands of kilometres away requires an extreme precision impossible to achieve when building

11400-549: The directions described as the qiblas of the companions are due south in Syria and Palestine, the direction of the winter sunrise in Egypt, and the direction of the winter sunset in Iraq. The direction of the winter sunrise and sunset are also traditionally favoured because they are parallel to the walls of the Kaaba. The determination of qibla has been an important problem for Muslim communities throughout history. Muslims are required to know

11550-455: The early 9th century were approximate solutions to the mathematical problem, usually using a flat map or two-dimensional geometry. Since in reality the Earth is spherical, the directions found were inexact, but they were sufficient for locations relatively close to Mecca (including as far away as Egypt and Iran) because the errors were less than 2°. Exact solutions, based on three-dimensional geometry and spherical trigonometry, began to appear in

11700-430: The father of Salah ad-Din (Saladin), and Salah ad-Din himself had spent part of his childhood there. It was remodeled into a madrasa and funerary complex. When al-Sa'id himself died in 1280, he was buried in the same mausoleum as his father. Construction of the complex began in 1277 but did not finish until later. It was still unfinished when al-Sa'id died and was buried here in 1280, and the new sultan al-Mansur Qalawun

11850-604: The fixed setting and rising points of a specific star, the sunrise or sunset at the equinoxes , or at the summer or the winter solstices . Historical sources record several such qiblas, for example: sunrise at the equinoxes (due east) in the Maghreb , sunset at the equinoxes (due west) in India, the origin of the north wind or the fixed location of the North Star in Yemen, the rising point of

12000-417: The flat map shows Mecca in the southeast while the great circle calculation shows it to the northeast. In Japan the map shows it to the southwest, while the great circle shows it to the northwest. The majority of Muslims, however, follow the great circle method. A retroazimuthal projection is any map projection which preserves the angular direction (the azimuth ) of the great circle path from any point of

12150-488: The great circle method ranges from 110° to 113° throughout the country. Variations of the qibla also occur in Indonesia, the country with the world's largest Muslim population. The astronomically calculated qibla ranges from 291°—295° (21°—25° north of west) depending on the exact location in the archipelago. However, the qibla is often known traditionally simply as "the west", resulting in mosques built oriented due west or to

12300-527: The great-great-great-grandson of the Caliph al-Mustarshid , Abu al-'Abbas Ahmad, who had survived from the defeated expedition, was proclaimed caliph as al-Hakim I , inaugurating the line of Abbasid caliphs of Cairo that continued as long as the Mamluk sultanate , until 1517. Like his unfortunate predecessor, al-Hakim I also received the formal oath of allegiance of Baybars and provided him with legitimation. While most of

12450-450: The ground but fortified and repaired it instead, as it was strategically situated and well constructed. He installed a new governor in Safed, with the rank of Wali . Later, in 1266, Baybars invaded the Christian country of Cilician Armenia which, under King Hethum I , had submitted to the Mongol Empire. After defeating the forces of Hethum I in the Battle of Mari , Baybars managed to ravage

12600-588: The growing enmity between the Golden Horde Khan with Hulagu. Baybars, who at that time has just defeated Hulagu, immediately sent envoy to Berke to inform the latter about this. Then, As soon as Berke converted to Islam, he sent envoy to Egypt to give news about this matter, and later, Baybars brought more peoples from Golden Horde to be sent into Egypt, where they also converted to Islam. In some time around October to November 1267, or about 666 Safar of Hijra year , Baybars wrote condolences and congratulations to

12750-458: The harbours, and built mosques. He was a patron of Islamic science , such as his support for the medical research of his Arab physician , Ibn al-Nafis . As a testament of a special relationship between Islam and cats , Baybars left a cat garden in Cairo as a waqf , providing the cats of Cairo with food and shelter. His memoirs were recorded in Sirat al-Zahir Baibars ("Life of al-Zahir Baibars"),

12900-585: The history of the Kaaba before the rise of Islam, but in the generations prior to Muhammad, the Kaaba had been used as a shrine of the pre-Islamic Arabic religion . The qibla status of the Kaaba (or the Sacred Mosque in which it is located) is based on the verses 144, 149, and 150 of the al-Baqarah chapter of the Quran, each of which contains a command to "turn your face toward the Sacred Mosque" ( fawalli wajhaka shatr al-Masjid il-Haram ). According to Islamic traditions, these verses were revealed in

13050-525: The library's holdings included some 100,000 holdings, 13,000 manuscripts, and 50,000 periodicals. Baibars Al-Malik al-Zahir Rukn al-Din Baybars al-Bunduqdari ( Arabic : الملك الظاهر ركن الدين بيبرس البندقداري ; 1223/1228 – 1 July 1277), commonly known as Baibars or Baybars and nicknamed Abu al-Futuh ( أبو الفتوح , lit.   ' Father of Conquests ' ), was the fourth Mamluk sultan of Egypt and Syria , of Turkic Kipchak origin, in

13200-562: The library. He was helped in part by the governor of Damascus, Midhat Pasha , who used an edict from the Ottoman sultan to collect books from around the region. The library was nationally recognized by the Syrian state and opened to the public in 1880 or 1881. It continued to consolidate collections throughout the late 19th century and early 20th century and became the National Library. It played

13350-721: The library. The law was not enforced until July 1983, when a presidential decree required the deposit of 5 copies of each work published by a Syrian author. In 1984 the Al-Assad Library became the Syrian national library, replacing al-Zahiriyah Library. The manuscript department includes over 13,000 classical Islamic manuscripts, the oldest being Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal ’s Kitab al-zuhd and Kitab al-fada'il . Other notable manuscripts include Ta'rikh Dimashq by Ibn 'Asakir (1105–1175), al-Jam bayn al-gharibayn by Abu `Ubaydah Ahmad ibn Muhammad Al-Harawi (d. 1010), and Gharib al-hadith by Ibn Qutaybah al-Dinawari (d. 889). As of 2011,

13500-524: The list of qibla angles often written on the instruments themselves. Hotel rooms with Muslim guests may use a sticker showing the qibla on the ceiling or a drawer. With the advent of computing, various mobile apps and websites use formulae to calculate the qibla for their users. Because varying methods have been used to determine the qibla, mosques were built throughout history in different directions, including some that still stand today. Methods based on astronomy and mathematics were not always used, and

13650-405: The locality and the Kaaba. One of the properties of a great circle is that it indicates the shortest path connecting any pair of points along the circle—this is the basis of its use to determine the qibla. The great circle is similarly used to find the shortest flight path connecting the two locations—therefore the qibla calculated using the great circle method is generally close to the direction of

13800-409: The locality to Mecca. As the ellipsoid is a more accurate figure of the Earth than a perfect sphere, modern researchers have looked into using ellipsoidal models to calculate the qibla, replacing the great circle by the geodesics on an ellipsoid . This results in more complicated calculations, while the improvement in accuracy falls well within the typical precision of the setting out of a mosque or

13950-413: The many things connecting astronomy with Islamic law (sharia). According to David A. King, various medieval solutions for the determination of the qibla "bear witness to the development of mathematical methods from the 3rd/9th to the 8th/14th centuries and to the level of sophistication in trigonometry and computational techniques attained by these scholars". The first mathematical methods developed in

14100-462: The map to a point selected as the center of the map. The initial purpose of its development was to help finding the qibla, by choosing the Kaaba as the center point. The earliest surviving works using this projection were two astrolabe-shaped brass instruments created in 18th-century Iran. They contain grids covering locations between Spain and China, label the locations of major cities along with their names, but do not show any coastline. The first of

14250-439: The medieval qibla tables, al-Khalili's work is "the most impressive from the view of its scope and its accuracy". The accuracy of applying these methods to actual locations depend on the accuracy of its input parameters—the local latitude and the latitude of Mecca, and the longitude difference. At the time of the development of these methods, the latitude of a location could be determined to several arc minutes' accuracy, but there

14400-495: The mid-9th century. Habash al-Hasib wrote an early example, using an orthographic projection . Another group of solutions uses trigonometric formulas, for example Al-Nayrizi 's four-step application of Menelaus's theorem . Subsequent scholars, including Ibn Yunus, Abu al-Wafa, Ibn al-Haitham and Al-Biruni, proposed other methods which are confirmed to be accurate from the viewpoint of modern astronomy. Muslim astronomers subsequently used these methods to compile tables showing

14550-596: The modern values. For example, while the Al-Azhar Mosque in Cairo was built using the "qibla of the astronomers", but the mosque's qibla (127°) differs somewhat from the results of modern calculations (135°) because the longitude difference used was off by three degrees. Accurate longitude values in the Islamic world were available only after the application of cartographic surveys in the 18th and 19th centuries. Modern coordinates, along with new technologies such as GPS satellites and electronic instruments, resulted in

14700-501: The month of Rajab or Sha'ban in the second Hijri year (623 CE), or about 15 or 16 months after Muhammad's migration to Medina . Prior to these revelations, Muhammad and the Muslims in Medina had prayed towards Jerusalem as the qibla, the same direction as the prayer direction—the mizrah —used by the Jews of Medina . Islamic tradition says that these verses were revealed during

14850-461: The mosaic friezes of the mausoleum were decorative elements that would recur throughout the Mamluk period after Baybars. The madrasa had a library from the outset. Its first books were donated by the mother of al-Sa'id Barakah as part of the madrasa's endowment. It was only turned into a "general library" in 1876 or 1877 by Sheikh Tahir al-Jazairi and Salim al-Bukhari, who collected thousands of items for

15000-513: The new Khan of the Golden Horde , Mengu-Timur , to urge him to fight Abaqa . Baybars continued to conduct warm correspondence with the Golden Horde, particularly with Mengu Timur's general Noqai , who unlike Mengu Timur was very cooperative with Baybars. It is theorized that this intimacy was not only due to the religious connection (as Noqai was a Muslim, unlike his Khan), but also because Noqai

15150-554: The north/northeast qibla with a minority following the east/southeast qibla. The International Space Station (ISS) orbits the Earth at high speed—the direction from it to Mecca changes significantly within a few seconds. Before his flight to the ISS, Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor requested, and the Malaysian National Fatwa Council provided, guidelines which have been translated into multiple languages. The council wrote that

15300-560: The north–south direction. The result of this observation is very accurate, but it requires an accurate determination of the local time of culmination as well as making the correct observation at that exact moment. Another common method is using the compass, which is more practical because it can be done at any time; the disadvantage is that the north indicated by a magnetic compass differs from true north. This magnetic declination can measure up to 20°, which can vary in different places on Earth and changes over time . As observed from Earth,

15450-474: The number of mosques increased, in 1978, an American Muslim scientist, S. Kamal Abdali, wrote a book arguing that the correct qibla from North America was north or northeast as calculated by the great circle method which identifies the shortest path to Mecca. Abdali's conclusion was widely circulated and then accepted by the Muslim community, and mosques were subsequently reoriented as a result. In 1993, two religious scholars, Riad Nachef and Samir Kadi, published

15600-469: The opposite phenomenon when the Sun passes above the antipodal point of the Kaaba (in other words, the Sun passes directly underneath the Kaaba), causing shadows in the opposite direction from those observed during rasd al-qiblat . This occurs twice a year, on 14 January 00:30 SAST (21:30 UTC the previous day) and 29 November 00:09 SAST (21:09 UTC the previous day). Observations made within five minutes of

15750-413: The person's line of sight would pass through the Kaaba. This manner of observing the qibla is easily done inside the Great Mosque of Mecca and its surroundings, but given that the Kaaba is less than 20 metres (66 ft) wide, this is virtually impossible from distant locations. For example, from Medina, with a 338-kilometre (210 mi) straight-line distance from the Kaaba, a one- degree deviation from

15900-428: The pilgrimage. Islamic etiquette ( adab ) calls for Muslims to turn the head of an animal when it is slaughtered , and the faces of the dead when they are buried, toward the qibla. The qibla is the preferred direction when making a supplication and is to be avoided when defecating, urinating, and spitting. Inside a mosque, the qibla is usually indicated by a mihrab , a niche in its qibla-facing wall. In

16050-532: The placement of a mat. For example, calculations using the GRS 80 ellipsoidal model yields the qibla of 18°47′06″ for a location in San Francisco , while the great circle method yields 18°51′05″. The great circle model is applied to calculate the qibla using spherical trigonometry —a branch of geometry that deals with the mathematical relations between the sides and angles of triangles formed by three great circles of

16200-497: The portal and the mausoleum are the best-preserved historical parts of the complex. The mausoleum is covered by a large dome and its interior is boldly decorated with marble paneling along its lower walls ( dadoes ) and a large frieze of glass mosaics along its upper walls. The mosaics are reminiscent of the more famous ones found in the Umayyad Mosque nearby, illustrating scenes of trees and palaces. However, their craftsmanship

16350-440: The precise imaginary line—an error hardly noticeable when setting one's prayer mat or assuming one's posture—results in a 5.9-kilometre (3.7 mi) shift from the site of the Kaaba. This effect is amplified when further than Mecca: from Jakarta , Indonesia—some 7,900 km (4,900 mi) away, a one-degree deviation causes more than a 100-kilometre (62 mi) shift, and even an arc second 's deviation— ( 1 ⁄ 3600 of

16500-405: The qibla angle with respect to the north, ∠ q {\displaystyle \angle q} , is known, true north needs to be known to find the qibla in practice. Common practical methods to find it include the observation of the shadow at the culmination of the sun—when the sun crosses exactly the local meridian . At this point, any vertical object would cast a shadow oriented in

16650-464: The qibla determination should be "based on what is possible" and recommended four options, saying that one should pray toward the first option if possible and, if not, fall back successively on the later ones: In line with the fatwa council, other Muslim scholars argue for the importance of flexibility and adapting the qibla requirement to what an astronaut is capable of fulfilling. Khaleel Muhammad of San Diego State University opined "God does not take

16800-539: The qibla from a list of locations, grouped by their latitude and longitude differences from Mecca. The oldest known example, from c.  9th-century Baghdad, contained entries for each degree and arc minute up to 20°. In the 14th century, Shams al-Din al-Khalili , an astronomer who served as a muwaqqit (timekeeper) in the Umayyad Mosque of Damascus, compiled a qibla table for 2,880 coordinates with longitude differences of up to 60° from Mecca, and with latitudes ranging from 10° to 50°. King opines that among

16950-405: The qibla in new locations. Mathematical methods based on astronomy would develop only at the end of the 8th century or the beginning of the 9th, and even then they were not initially popular. Therefore, early Muslims relied on non-astronomical methods. There was a wide range of traditional methods in determining the qibla during the early Islamic period, resulting in different directions even from

17100-438: The qibla indicated by the local mosque when one is not near Mecca or, when not near a mosque, to ask a trustworthy person. When this is not possible, one is to make one's own determination—to exercise ijtihad —by the means at one's disposal. A great circle , also called the orthodrome, is any circle on a sphere whose centre is identical to the centre of the sphere. For example, all lines of longitude are great circles of

17250-417: The qibla is a necessary condition for the validity of salah —the Islamic ritual prayer—in normal conditions; exceptions include prayers during a state of fear or war, as well as non-obligatory prayers during travel. The hadith (Muhammad's tradition) also prescribes that Muslims face the qibla when entering the ihram (sacred state for hajj), after the middle jamrah (stone-throwing ritual) during

17400-569: The qibla more accurately, and they still appear in some surviving medieval mosques today. The study of astronomy—known as ilm al-falak ("science of the celestial orbs") in the Islamic intellectual tradition—began to appear in the Islamic World in the second half of the 8th century, centred in Baghdad, the principal city of the Abbasid Caliphate . Initially, the science was introduced through

17550-512: The qibla of Muhammad in Medina), and 204° (the setting point of Canopus). The modern qibla for Cairo is 135°, which was not known at the time. This diversity also results in the non-uniform layout in Cairo's districts, because the streets are often oriented according to the varying orientation of the mosques. Historical records also indicate the diversity of qiblas in other major cities, including Córdoba (113°, 120°, 135°, 150°, and 180° were recorded in

17700-508: The qibla to perform their daily prayers, and it is also needed to determine the orientation of mosques. When Muhammad lived among the Muslims in Medina (which, like Mecca, is also in the Hejaz region), he prayed due south, according to the known direction of Mecca. Within the few generations after Muhammad's death in 632, Muslims had reached places far away from Mecca, presenting the problem of determining

17850-403: The qibla was often determined by simple methods based on tradition or "folk science" not based on mathematical astronomy. Some early Muslims used due south everywhere as the qibla, literally following Muhammad's instruction to face south while he was in Medina (Mecca is due south of Medina). Some mosques as far away as al-Andalus to the west and Central Asia to the east face south, even though Mecca

18000-442: The qibla. These methods included facing the direction that the companions of Muhammad had used when in the same place; using the setting and rising points of celestial objects; using the direction of the wind; or using due south, which was Muhammad's qibla in Medina. Early Islamic astronomy was built on its Indian and Greek counterparts, especially the works of Ptolemy , and soon Muslim astronomers developed methods to calculate

18150-551: The ranks of Mamluk society, where he commanded Mamluk forces in the decisive Battle of Ain Jalut in 1260, repelling Mongol forces from Syria. Although in the Muslim world he has been considered a national hero for centuries, and in the Near East and Kazakhstan is still regarded as such, Baybars was reviled in the Christian world of the time for his successful campaigns against the Crusader States . A Templar knight who fought in

18300-451: The reign of Aybak. Baybars then sent 'Ala al-Din Taybars al-Waziri to discuss with Qutuz his return to Egypt, which was eagerly accepted. He was still a commander under sultan Qutuz at the Battle of Ain Jalut in 1260, when he decisively defeated the Mongols. After the battle, Sultan Qutuz (aka Koetoez) was assassinated while on a hunting expedition. It was said that Baybars was involved in

18450-415: The ritual prayer, while others consider it obligatory only when one is able. For locations further than Mecca, scholars such as Abu Hanifa ( d.  699 ) and Al-Qurtubi ( d.  1214 ) argue that it is permissible to assume jihat al-ka'ba , facing only the general direction of the Kaaba. Others argue that the ritual condition of facing the qibla is already fulfilled when the imaginary line to

18600-590: The royal capital of Yogyakarta had inaccurate qiblas, including the Kauman Great Mosque , which faced due west. His efforts in adjusting the qibla were opposed by the traditional ulama of the Yogyakarta Sultanate , and a new mosque built by Dahlan using his calculations was demolished by a mob. Dahlan rebuilt his mosque in the 1900s, and later the Kauman Great Mosque would also be reoriented using

18750-443: The same determination method could yield different qiblas due to differences in the accuracy of data and calculations. Egyptian historian Al-Maqrizi (d. 1442) recorded various qibla angles used in Cairo at the time: 90° (due east), 117° (winter sunrise, the "qibla of the sahaba"), 127° (calculated by astronomers, such as Ibn Yunus), 141° ( Mosque of Ibn Tulun ), 156° (the rising point of Suhayl/Canopus), 180° (due south, emulating

18900-596: The same place. In addition to due south and the qiblas of the companions, the Arabs also knew a form of "folk" astronomy—called so by the historian of astronomy David A. King to distinguish it from conventional astronomy, which is an exact science—originating from pre-Islamic traditions. It used natural phenomenon, including the observation of the Sun, the Moon, the stars, and wind, without any basis in mathematics. These methods yield specific directions in individual localities, often using

19050-540: The son of John of Ibelin. Jaffa fell to Baybars on 7 March after twelve hours of fighting; most of Jaffa's citizens were slain, but Baybars allowed the garrison to go unharmed. After this he conquered Ashkalon and Caesarea . Baybars actively pursued a close relationship with Berke , the Khan of Golden Horde. He particularly was recorded to receive the first two hundred soldiers from Golden Horde to visit warmly, where Baybars persuade them to convert to Islam while also observing

19200-403: The spherical triangle △ N O Q {\displaystyle \triangle NOQ} (substituting B = ∠ q = ∠ N O Q {\displaystyle B=\angle q=\angle NOQ} ) and applying trigonometric identities obtain: This formula was derived by modern scholars, but equivalent methods have been known to Muslim astronomers since

19350-402: The star Suhayl ( Canopus ) in Syria, and the midwinter sunset in Iraq. Such directions appear in texts of fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) and texts of folk astronomy. Astronomers (aside from folk astronomers) typically do not comment on these methods, but they were not opposed by Islamic legal scholars. The traditional directions were still in use when methods were developed to calculate

19500-571: The sun reaches the zenith of the Kaaba, any vertical object on earth that receives sunlight cast a shadow that indicates the qibla ( see picture ). This method of finding the qibla is called rasd al-qiblat ("observing the qibla"). Since night falls on the hemisphere opposite of the Kaaba, half the locations on Earth (including Australia as well as most of the Americas and the Pacific Ocean) cannot observe this directly. Instead, such places observe

19650-501: The terms of the settlement, the Nubians were now subjected to paying jizya tribute, and in return they were allowed to keep their religion, being protected under Islamic law as ' People of the Book '; they were also allowed to continue being governed by a king from the native royal family, although this king was chosen personally by Baybars, namely a Makurian noble named Shakanda. In practice this

19800-413: The three great cities of Mamistra , Adana and Tarsus , so that when Hetoum arrived with Mongol troops, the country was already devastated. Hetoum had to negotiate the return of his son Leo by giving control of Armenia's border fortresses to the Mamluks. In 1269, Hetoum abdicated in favour of his son and became a monk, but he died a year later. Leo was left in the awkward situation of keeping Cilicia as

19950-431: The town he offered free passage to the defending Knights Hospitallers if they surrendered their formidable citadel. The Knights accepted Baybars' offer but were enslaved anyway. Baybars razed the castle to the ground. He next attacked Atlit and Haifa , where he captured both towns after destroying the crusaders' resistance, and razed the citadels. In the same year, Baybars laid siege to the fortress of Safed , held by

20100-583: The town population, and suffered heavy losses. Robert of Artois , who took refuge in a house, and William Longespée the Younger were both killed, along with most of the Knights Templar . Only five Templar Knights escaped alive. The second was the Battle of Fariskur which essentially ended the Seventh Crusade and led to the capture of Louis IX. Egyptian forces in that battle were led by Sultan Turanshah ,

20250-478: The troops of Sinjar outside Damascus, and pursued the attack to the city, where the citizens were loyal to Sinjar and resisted Baybars, although their resistance was soon crushed. There was also a brief rebellion in Cairo led by a leading figure of the Shiite named al-Kurani . Al-Kurani is said originated from Nishapur. Al-Kurani and his follower are recorded to have attacked the weapon stores and stables of Cairo during

20400-452: The two was discovered in 1989; its diameter is 22.5 centimetres (8.9 in) and it has a ruler with which one can read the direction of Mecca from the markings on the instrument's circumference, and the distance to Mecca from the markings on the ruler. Only the second one is signed by its creator, Muhammad Husayn. The first formal design of a retroazimuthal projection in the Western literature

20550-635: The way for the later final demise of the Crusader presence in the region. Baybars died unexpectedly in July 1277 in his palace (called al-Qasr al- Ablaq ) in Damascus after drinking a poisoned cup that was intended for someone else. His death was kept a secret and he was temporarily buried in the Citadel of Damascus while arrangements could be made for his permanent burial and for a transition of power to his 18-year-old son al-Sa'id Barakah . Baybars had reportedly expressed

20700-423: The works of Indian authors, but after the 9th century the works of Greek astronomers such as Ptolemy were translated into Arabic and became the main references in the field. Muslim astronomers preferred Greek astronomy because they considered it to be better supported by theoretical explanations and therefore it could be developed as an exact science; however, the influence of Indian astronomy survives especially in

20850-434: The year (usually twice a year) the Sun passes almost directly overhead. This happens when the Sun crosses the meridian while being at the local latitude at the same time. The city of Mecca is among the places where this occurs, due to its location at 21°25′ N. It occurs twice a year, firstly on 27/28 May at about 12:18 Saudi Arabia Standard Time (SAST) or 09:18 UTC, and secondly on 15/16 July at 12:27 SAST (09:27 UTC). As

21000-631: The young son of recently deceased as-Salih Ayyub . Shortly after the victory over the Crusaders, Baybars and a group of Mamluk soldiers assassinated Turanshah, leading to as-Salih Ayyub's widow Shajar al-Durr being named sultana . In 1254, a power shift occurred in Egypt, as Aybak killed Faris ad-Din Aktai , the leader of the Bahri Mamluks. Some of his Mamluks, among them Baybars and Qalawun al-Alfi , fled to an-Nasir Yusuf in Syria , persuading him to break

21150-425: Was also arguably the first to employ explosive hand cannons in war, at the Battle of Ain Jalut. His military campaign also extended into Libya and Nubia . He was also an efficient administrator who took interest in building various infrastructure projects, such as a mounted message relay system capable of delivery from Cairo to Damascus in four days. He built bridges, irrigation and shipping canals, improved

21300-496: Was defeated again. In 1257, Baybars and other Bahri Mamluks left Damascus to Jerusalem , where they deposed its governor Kütük and plundered its markets, then they did the same in Gaza . Later on, they fought against the forces of an-Nasir Yusuf at Nablus , then fled to join the forces of al-Mughith Umar  [ de ] in Kerak . The combined forces tried in vain to invade Egypt during

21450-534: Was intended for someone else. Other accounts suggest that he may have died from a wound while campaigning, or from illness. He was buried in the Az-Zahiriyah Library in Damascus. Sultan Baybars married a noble lady from Tripoli (modern-day Lebanon) named Aisha al Bushnatiya, a prominent Arab family. Aisha was a warrior who fought the Crusaders along with her brother lieutenant Hassan. She met Sultan Baybars after he camped in Tripoli during his siege. They had

21600-534: Was no accurate method to determine a location's longitude. Common methods used to estimate the longitude difference included comparing the local timing of a lunar eclipse versus the timing in Mecca, or measuring the distance of caravan routes; the Central Asian scholar Al-Biruni made his estimate by averaging various approximate methods. Because of longitudinal inaccuracy, medieval qibla calculations (including those using mathematically accurate methods) differ from

21750-517: Was not really fond of Mengu-Timur. However, Baybars was pragmatic in his approach and did not want to become involved in complicated intrigue inside the Golden Horde, so instead he stayed close to both Mengu Timur and Noqai. On 30 March 1271, after Baybars captured the smaller castles in the area, including Chastel Blanc , he besieged the Krak des Chevaliers, held by the Hospitallers . Peasants who lived in

21900-509: Was popular and powerful enough to claim Damascus . Also, the threat from the Mongols was still serious enough to be considered as a threat to Baybars' authority. However, Baybars first chose to deal with Sinjar, and marched on Damascus. At the same time the princes of Hama and Homs proved able to defeat the Mongols in the First Battle of Homs , which lifted the Mongol threat for a while. On 17 January 1261, Baybars's forces were able to rout

22050-543: Was reducing Makuria to a vassal kingdom, effectively ending Makuria's status as an independent kingdom. In 1277, Baybars invaded the Seljuq Sultanate of Rûm , then controlled by the Ilkhanate Mongols. He defeated a Ilkhanate army at the Battle of Elbistan and captured the city of Kayseri . Baybars himself went with a few troops to deal with the Mongol right flank that was pounding his left wing. Baybars ordered

22200-585: Was required to see to its completion. This may have been accomplished in 1281, with the mausoleum's decoration probably being the last element to be executed. The architect of the complex was Ibrahim ibn Ghana’im al-Muhandis, who was also responsible for building al-Qasr al-Ablaq, the palace of Baybars in Damascus, in 1264. Like many subsequent Mamluk foundations , the funerary complex of Baybars served multiple functions, which were outlined in its waqf (trust agreement for charitable foundations under Islamic law). It included two madrasas (teaching Islamic law ),

22350-605: Was the Qarmatians , a now-defunct syncretic Shia sect which rejected the Kaaba as the qibla; in 930, they sacked Mecca and for a time took the Kaaba's Black Stone to their centre of power in al-Ahsa , with the intention of starting a new era in Islam. Etymologically, the Arabic word qibla ( قبلة ) means "direction". In Islamic ritual and law, it refers to a special direction faced by Muslims during prayers and other religious contexts. Islamic religious scholars agree that facing

22500-465: Was the daughter of Barka Khan a former Khwarazmian amir. She was the mother of his son Al-Said Barakah . She died in 1284–85. Another wife was the daughter Karmun Agha, a Mongol Amir. He had three sons al-Said Barakah , Solamish and Khizir. He had seven daughters; one of them was named Tidhkarbay Khatun. As the first Sultan of the Bahri Mamluk dynasty , Baybars made the meritocratic ascent up

#990009