Hyderabad (Listeni/ˈhaɪdərəˌbæd/ HY-dər-ə-bad; often /ˈhaɪdrəˌbæd/) is the capital of the southern Indian state of Telangana and de jure capital of Andhra Pradesh. Occupying 625 square kilometres along the banks of the Musi River, it has a population of about 6.8 million and a metropolitan population of about 7.75 million, making it the fourth most populous city and sixth most populous urban agglomeration in India. At an average altitude of 542 metres, much of Hyderabad is situated on hilly terrain around artificial lakes, including Hussain Sagar - predating the city's founding - north of the city centre.

 

Established in 1591 by Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah, Hyderabad remained under the rule of the Qutb Shahi dynasty for nearly a century before the Mughals captured the region. In 1724, Mughal viceroy Asif Jah I declared his sovereignty and created his own dynasty, known as the Nizams of Hyderabad. The Nizam's dominions became a princely state during the British Raj, and remained so for 150 years, with the city serving as its capital. The city continued as the capital of Hyderabad State after it was brought into the Indian Union in 1948, and became the capital of Andhra Pradesh after the States Reorganisation Act, 1956. Since 1956, Rashtrapati Nilayam in the city has been the winter office of the President of India. In 2014, the newly formed state of Telangana split from Andhra Pradesh and the city became joint capital of the two states, a transitional arrangement scheduled to end by 2025.

 

Relics of Qutb Shahi and Nizam rule remain visible today, with the Charminar - commissioned by Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah - coming to symbolise Hyderabad. Golconda fort is another major landmark. The influence of Mughlai culture is also evident in the city's distinctive cuisine, which includes Hyderabadi biryani and Hyderabadi haleem. The Qutb Shahis and Nizams established Hyderabad as a cultural hub, attracting men of letters from different parts of the world. Hyderabad emerged as the foremost centre of culture in India with the decline of the Mughal Empire in the mid-19th century, with artists migrating to the city from the rest of the Indian subcontinent. While Hyderabad is losing its cultural pre-eminence, it is today, due to the Telugu film industry, the country's second-largest producer of motion pictures.

 

Hyderabad was historically known as a pearl and diamond trading centre, and it continues to be known as the City of Pearls. Many of the city's traditional bazaars, including Laad Bazaar, Begum Bazaar and Sultan Bazaar, have remained open for centuries. However, industrialisation throughout the 20th century attracted major Indian manufacturing, research and financial institutions, including Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited, the National Geophysical Research Institute and the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology. Special economic zones dedicated to information technology have encouraged companies from across India and around the world to set up operations and the emergence of pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries in the 1990s led to the area's naming as India's "Genome Valley". With an output of US$74 billion, Hyderabad is the fifth-largest contributor to India's overall gross domestic product.

 

HISTORY

TOPONYMY

According to John Everett-Heath, the author of Oxford Concise Dictionary of World Place Names, Hyderabad means "Haydar's city" or "lion city", from haydar (lion) and ābād (city). It was named to honour the Caliph Ali Ibn Abi Talib, who was also known as Haydar because of his lion-like valour in battles. Andrew Petersen, a scholar of Islamic architecture, says the city was originally called Baghnagar (city of gardens). One popular theory suggests that Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah, the founder of the city, named it "Bhaganagar" or "Bhāgnagar" after Bhagmati, a local nautch (dancing) girl with whom he had fallen in love. She converted to Islam and adopted the title Hyder Mahal. The city was renamed Hyderabad in her honour. According to another source, the city was named after Haidar, the son of Quli Qutb Shah.

 

EARLY AND MEDIEVAL HISTORY

Archaeologists excavating near the city have unearthed Iron Age sites that may date from 500 BCE. The region comprising modern Hyderabad and its surroundings was known as Golkonda ("shepherd's hill"), and was ruled by the Chalukya dynasty from 624 CE to 1075 CE. Following the dissolution of the Chalukya empire into four parts in the 11th century, Golkonda came under the control of the Kakatiya dynasty from 1158, whose seat of power was at Warangal, 148 km northeast of modern Hyderabad.

 

The Kakatiya dynasty was reduced to a vassal of the Khilji dynasty in 1310 after its defeat by Sultan Alauddin Khilji of the Delhi Sultanate. This lasted until 1321, when the Kakatiya dynasty was annexed by Malik Kafur, Allaudin Khilji's general. During this period, Alauddin Khilji took the Koh-i-Noor diamond, which is said to have been mined from the Kollur Mines of Golkonda, to Delhi. Muhammad bin Tughluq succeeded to the Delhi sultanate in 1325, bringing Warangal under the rule of the Tughlaq dynasty until 1347 when Ala-ud-Din Bahman Shah, a governor under bin Tughluq, rebelled against Delhi and established the Bahmani Sultanate in the Deccan Plateau, with Gulbarga, 200 km west of Hyderabad, as its capital. The Bahmani kings ruled the region until 1518 and were the first independent Muslim rulers of the Deccan.

 

Sultan Quli, a governor of Golkonda, revolted against the Bahmani Sultanate and established the Qutb Shahi dynasty in 1518; he rebuilt the mud-fort of Golconda and named the city "Muhammad nagar". The fifth sultan, Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah, established Hyderabad on the banks of the Musi River in 1591, to avoid the water shortages experienced at Golkonda. During his rule, he had the Charminar and Mecca Masjid built in the city. On 21 September 1687, the Golkonda Sultanate came under the rule of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb after a year-long siege of the Golkonda fort. The annexed area was renamed Deccan Suba (Deccan province) and the capital was moved from Golkonda to Aurangabad, about 550 km northwest of Hyderabad.

 

MODERN HISTORY

In 1713 Farrukhsiyar, the Mughal emperor, appointed Asif Jah I to be Viceroy of the Deccan, with the title Nizam-ul-Mulk (Administrator of the Realm). In 1724, Asif Jah I defeated Mubariz Khan to establish autonomy over the Deccan Suba, named the region Hyderabad Deccan, and started what came to be known as the Asif Jahi dynasty. Subsequent rulers retained the title Nizam ul-Mulk and were referred to as Asif Jahi Nizams, or Nizams of Hyderabad. The death of Asif Jah I in 1748 resulted in a period of political unrest as his sons, backed by opportunistic neighbouring states and colonial foreign forces, contended for the throne. The accession of Asif Jah II, who reigned from 1762 to 1803, ended the instability. In 1768 he signed the treaty of Masulipatnam, surrendering the coastal region to the East India Company in return for a fixed annual rent.

 

In 1769 Hyderabad city became the formal capital of the Nizams. In response to regular threats from Hyder Ali (Dalwai of Mysore), Baji Rao I (Peshwa of the Maratha Empire), and Basalath Jung (Asif Jah II's elder brother, who was supported by the Marquis de Bussy-Castelnau), the Nizam signed a subsidiary alliance with the East India Company in 1798, allowing the British Indian Army to occupy Bolarum (modern Secunderabad) to protect the state's borders, for which the Nizams paid an annual maintenance to the British.

 

Until 1874 there were no modern industries in Hyderabad. With the introduction of railways in the 1880s, four factories were built to the south and east of Hussain Sagar lake, and during the early 20th century, Hyderabad was transformed into a modern city with the establishment of transport services, underground drainage, running water, electricity, telecommunications, universities, industries, and Begumpet Airport. The Nizams ruled their princely state from Hyderabad during the British Raj.

 

After India gained independence, the Nizam declared his intention to remain independent rather than become part of the Indian Union. The Hyderabad State Congress, with the support of the Indian National Congress and the Communist Party of India, began agitating against Nizam VII in 1948. On 17 September that year, the Indian Army took control of Hyderabad State after an invasion codenamed Operation Polo. With the defeat of his forces, Nizam VII capitulated to the Indian Union by signing an Instrument of Accession, which made him the Rajpramukh (Princely Governor) of the state until 31 October 1956. Between 1946 and 1951, the Communist Party of India fomented the Telangana uprising against the feudal lords of the Telangana region. The Constitution of India, which became effective on 26 January 1950, made Hyderabad State one of the part B states of India, with Hyderabad city continuing to be the capital. In his 1955 report Thoughts on Linguistic States, B. R. Ambedkar, then chairman of the Drafting Committee of the Indian Constitution, proposed designating the city of Hyderabad as the second capital of India because of its amenities and strategic central location. Since 1956, the Rashtrapati Nilayam in Hyderabad has been the second official residence and business office of the President of India; the President stays once a year in winter and conducts official business particularly relating to Southern India.

 

On 1 November 1956 the states of India were reorganised by language. Hyderabad state was split into three parts, which were merged with neighbouring states to form the modern states of Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. The nine Telugu- and Urdu-speaking districts of Hyderabad State in the Telangana region were merged with the Telugu-speaking Andhra State to create Andhra Pradesh,with Hyderabad as its capital. Several protests, known collectively as the Telangana movement, attempted to invalidate the merger and demanded the creation of a new Telangana state. Major actions took place in 1969 and 1972, and a third began in 2010. The city suffered several explosions: one at Dilsukhnagar in 2002 claimed two lives; terrorist bombs in May and August 2007 caused communal tension and riots; and two bombs exploded in February 2013. On 30 July 2013 the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government of India declared that part of Andhra Pradesh would be split off to form a new Telangana state, and that Hyderabad city would be the capital city and part of Telangana, while the city would also remain the capital of Andhra Pradesh for no more than ten years. On 3 October 2013 the Union Cabinet approved the proposal, and in February 2014 both houses of Parliament passed the Telangana Bill. With the final assent of the President of India in June 2014, Telangana state was formed.

 

GEOGRAPHY

TOPOGRAPHY

Situated in the southern part of Telangana in southeastern India, Hyderabad is 1,566 kilometres south of Delhi, 699 kilometres southeast of Mumbai, and 570 kilometres north of Bangalore by road. It lies on the banks of the Musi River, in the northern part of the Deccan Plateau. Greater Hyderabad covers 625 km2, making it one of the largest metropolitan areas in India. With an average altitude of 542 metres, Hyderabad lies on predominantly sloping terrain of grey and pink granite, dotted with small hills, the highest being Banjara Hills at 672 metres. The city has numerous lakes referred to as sagar, meaning "sea". Examples include artificial lakes created by dams on the Musi, such as Hussain Sagar (built in 1562 near the city centre), Osman Sagar and Himayat Sagar. As of 1996, the city had 140 lakes and 834 water tanks (ponds).

 

CLIMATE

Hyderabad has a tropical wet and dry climate (Köppen Aw) bordering on a hot semi-arid climate (Köppen BSh). The annual mean temperature is 26.6 °C; monthly mean temperatures are 21–33 °C. Summers (March–June) are hot and humid, with average highs in the mid-to-high 30s Celsius; maximum temperatures often exceed 40 °C between April and June. The coolest temperatures occur in December and January, when the lowest temperature occasionally dips to 10 °C. May is the hottest month, when daily temperatures range from 26 to 39 °C; December, the coldest, has temperatures varying from 14.5 to 28 °C.

 

Heavy rain from the south-west summer monsoon falls between June and September, supplying Hyderabad with most of its mean annual rainfall. Since records began in November 1891, the heaviest rainfall recorded in a 24-hour period was 241.5 mm on 24 August 2000. The highest temperature ever recorded was 45.5 °C on 2 June 1966, and the lowest was 6.1 °C on 8 January 1946. The city receives 2,731 hours of sunshine per year; maximum daily sunlight exposure occurs in February.

 

CONSERVATION

Hyderabad's lakes and the sloping terrain of its low-lying hills provide habitat for an assortment of flora and fauna. The forest region in and around the city encompasses areas of ecological and biological importance, which are preserved in the form of national parks, zoos, mini-zoos and a wildlife sanctuary. Nehru Zoological Park, the city's one large zoo, is the first in India to have a lion and tiger safari park. Hyderabad has three national parks (Mrugavani National Park, Mahavir Harina Vanasthali National Park and Kasu Brahmananda Reddy National Park), and the Manjira Wildlife Sanctuary is about 50 km from the city. Hyderabad's other environmental reserves are: Kotla Vijayabhaskara Reddy Botanical Gardens, Shamirpet Lake, Hussain Sagar, Fox Sagar Lake, Mir Alam Tank and Patancheru Lake, which is home to regional birds and attracts seasonal migratory birds from different parts of the world. Organisations engaged in environmental and wildlife preservation include the Telangana Forest Department, Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education, the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), the Animal Welfare Board of India, the Blue Cross of Hyderabad and the University of Hyderabad.

 

ADMINISTRATION

COMMON CAPITAL OF TELANGANA AND ANDHRA PRADESH

According to the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014 part 2 Section 5: "On and from the appointed day, Hyderabad in the existing State of Andhra Pradesh, shall be the common capital of the State of Telangana and the State of Andhra Pradesh for such period not exceeding ten years. After expiry of the period referred to in sub-section, Hyderabad shall be the capital of the State of Telangana and there shall be a new capital for the State of Andhra Pradesh."

 

The same sections also define that the common capital includes the existing area designated as the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation under the Hyderabad Municipal Corporation Act, 1955. As stipulated in sections 3 and 18 of the Reorganisation Act, city MLAs are members of Telangana state assembly.

 

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) oversees the civic infrastructure of the city's 18 "circles", which together encompass 150 municipal wards. Each ward is represented by a corporator, elected by popular vote. The corporators elect the Mayor, who is the titular head of GHMC; executive powers rest with the Municipal Commissioner, appointed by the state government. The GHMC carries out the city's infrastructural work such as building and maintenance of roads and drains, town planning including construction regulation, maintenance of municipal markets and parks, solid waste management, the issuing of birth and death certificates, the issuing of trade licences, collection of property tax, and community welfare services such as mother and child healthcare, and pre-school and non-formal education. The GHMC was formed in April 2007 by merging the Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad (MCH) with 12 municipalities of the Hyderabad, Ranga Reddy and Medak districts covering a total area of 625 km2. In the 2009 municipal election, an alliance of the Indian National Congress and Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen formed the majority. The Secunderabad Cantonment Board is a civic administration agency overseeing an area of 40.1 km2, where there are several military camps. The Osmania University campus is administered independently by the university authority.

 

Law and order in Hyderabad city is supervised by the governor of Telangana. The jurisdiction is divided into two police commissionerates: Hyderabad and Cyberabad, which are again divided into four and five police zones respectively. Each zone is headed by a deputy commissioner.

 

The jurisdictions of the city's administrative agencies are, in ascending order of size: the Hyderabad Police area, Hyderabad district, the GHMC area ("Hyderabad city") and the area under the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA). The HMDA is an apolitical urban planning agency that covers the GHMC and its suburbs, extending to 54 mandals in five districts encircling the city. It coordinates the development activities of GHMC and suburban municipalities and manages the administration of bodies such as the Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWSSB).

 

As the seat of the government of Telangana, Hyderabad is home to the state's legislature, secretariat and high court, as well as various local government agencies. The Lower City Civil Court and the Metropolitan Criminal Court are under the jurisdiction of the High Court. The GHMC area contains 24 State Legislative Assembly constituencies, which form five constituencies of the Lok Sabha (the lower house of the Parliament of India).

 

UTILITY SERVICES

The HMWSSB regulates rainwater harvesting, sewerage services and water supply, which is sourced from several dams located in the suburbs. In 2005, the HMWSSB started operating a 116-kilometre-long water supply pipeline from Nagarjuna Sagar Dam to meet increasing demand. The Telangana Southern Power Distribution Company Limited manages electricity supply. As of October 2014, there were 15 fire stations in the city, operated by the Telangana State Disaster and Fire Response Department. The government-owned India Post has five head post offices and many sub-post offices in Hyderabad, which are complemented by private courier services.

 

POLLUTION CONTROL

Hyderabad produces around 4,500 tonnes of solid waste daily, which is transported from collection units in Imlibun, Yousufguda and Lower Tank Bund to the dumpsite in Jawaharnagar. Disposal is managed by the Integrated Solid Waste Management project which was started by the GHMC in 2010. Rapid urbanisation and increased economic activity has also led to increased industrial waste, air, noise and water pollution, which is regulated by the Telangana Pollution Control Board (TPCB). The contribution of different sources to air pollution in 2006 was: 20–50% from vehicles, 40–70% from a combination of vehicle discharge and road dust, 10–30% from industrial discharges and 3–10% from the burning of household rubbish. Deaths resulting from atmospheric particulate matter are estimated at 1,700–3,000 each year. Ground water around Hyderabad, which has a hardness of up to 1000 ppm, around three times higher than is desirable, is the main source of drinking water but the increasing population and consequent increase in demand has led to a decline in not only ground water but also river and lake levels. This shortage is further exacerbated by inadequately treated effluent discharged from industrial treatment plants polluting the water sources of the city.

 

HEALTHCARE

The Commissionerate of Health and Family Welfare is responsible for planning, implementation and monitoring of all facilities related to health and preventive services. As of 2010–11, the city had 50 government hospitals, 300 private and charity hospitals and 194 nursing homes providing around 12,000 hospital beds, fewer than half the required 25,000. For every 10,000 people in the city, there are 17.6 hospital beds, 9 specialist doctors, 14 nurses and 6 physicians. The city also has about 4,000 individual clinics and 500 medical diagnostic centres. Private clinics are preferred by many residents because of the distance to, poor quality of care at and long waiting times in government facilities, despite the high proportion of the city's residents being covered by government health insurance: 24% according to a National Family Health Survey in 2005. As of 2012, many new private hospitals of various sizes were opened or being built. Hyderabad also has outpatient and inpatient facilities that use Unani, homeopathic and Ayurvedic treatments.

 

In the 2005 National Family Health Survey, it was reported that the city's total fertility rate is 1.8, which is below the replacement rate. Only 61% of children had been provided with all basic vaccines (BCG, measles and full courses of polio and DPT), fewer than in all other surveyed cities except Meerut. The infant mortality rate was 35 per 1,000 live births, and the mortality rate for children under five was 41 per 1,000 live births. The survey also reported that a third of women and a quarter of men are overweight or obese, 49% of children below 5 years are anaemic, and up to 20% of children are underweight, while more than 2% of women and 3% of men suffer from diabetes.

 

DEMOGRAPHICS

When the GHMC was created in 2007, the area occupied by the municipality increased from 175 km2 to 625 km2. Consequently, the population increased by 87%, from 3,637,483 in the 2001 census to 6,809,970 in the 2011 census, 24% of which are migrants from elsewhere in India, making Hyderabad the nation's fourth most populous city. As of 2011, the population density is 18,480/km2. At the same 2011 census, the Hyderabad Urban Agglomeration had a population of 7,749,334, making it the sixth most populous urban agglomeration in the country. The population of the Hyderabad urban agglomeration has since been estimated by electoral officials to be 9.1 million as of early 2013 but is expected to exceed 10 million by the end of the year. There are 3,500,802 male and 3,309,168 female citizens - a sex ratio of 945 females per 1000 males, higher than the national average of 926 per 1000. Among children aged 0–6 years, 373,794 are boys and 352,022 are girls - a ratio of 942 per 1000. Literacy stands at 82.96% (male 85.96%; female 79.79%), higher than the national average of 74.04%. The socio-economic strata consist of 20% upper class, 50% middle class and 30% working class.

 

ETHNIC GROUPS, LANGUAGE AND RELIGION

Referred to as "Hyderabadi", residents of Hyderabad are predominantly Telugu and Urdu speaking people, with minority Bengali, Gujarati (including Memon), Kannada (including Nawayathi), Malayalam, Marathi, Marwari, Odia, Punjabi, Tamil and Uttar Pradeshi communities. Hadhrami Arabs, African Arabs, Armenians, Abyssinians, Iranians, Pathans and Turkish people are also present; these communities, of which the Hadhrami are the largest, declined after Hyderabad State became part of the Indian Union, as they lost the patronage of the Nizams.

 

Telugu is the official language of Hyderabad and Urdu is its second language. The Telugu dialect spoken in Hyderabad is called Telangana, and the Urdu spoken is called Dakhani. English is also used. A significant minority speak other languages, including Hindi, Marathi, Odia, Tamil, Bengali and Kannada.

 

Hindus are in the majority. Muslims are present throughout the city and predominate in and around the Old City. There are also Christian, Sikh, Jain, Buddhist and Parsi communities and iconic temples, mosques and churches can be seen. According to the 2001 census, Hyderabad district's religious make-up was: Hindus (55.41%), Muslims (41.17%), Christians (2.43%), Jains (0.43%), Sikhs (0.29%) and Buddhists (0.02%); 0.23% did not state any religion.

 

SLUMS

In the greater metropolitan area, 13% of the population live below the poverty line. According to a 2012 report submitted by GHMC to the World Bank, Hyderabad has 1,476 slums with a total population of 1.7 million, of whom 66% live in 985 slums in the "core" of the city (the part that formed Hyderabad before the April 2007 expansion) and the remaining 34% live in 491 suburban tenements. About 22% of the slum-dwelling households had migrated from different parts of India in the last decade of the 20th century, and 63% claimed to have lived in the slums for more than 10 years. Overall literacy in the slums is 60–80% and female literacy is 52–73%. A third of the slums have basic service connections, and the remainder depend on general public services provided by the government. There are 405 government schools, 267 government aided schools, 175 private schools and 528 community halls in the slum areas. According to a 2008 survey by the Centre for Good Governance, 87.6% of the slum-dwelling households are nuclear families, 18% are very poor, with an income up to ₹20000 (US$300) per annum, 73% live below the poverty line (a standard poverty line recognised by the Andhra Pradesh Government is ₹24000 (US$360) per annum), 27% of the chief wage earners (CWE) are casual labour and 38% of the CWE are illiterate. About 3.72% of the slum children aged 5–14 do not go to school and 3.17% work as child labour, of whom 64% are boys and 36% are girls. The largest employers of child labour are street shops and construction sites. Among the working children, 35% are engaged in hazardous jobs.

 

NEIGHBOURHOODS

The historic city established by Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah on the southern side of the Musi River forms the "Old City", while the "New City" encompasses the urbanised area on the northern banks. The two are connected by many bridges across the river, the oldest of which is Purana Pul ("old bridge"). Hyderabad is twinned with neighbouring Secunderabad, to which it is connected by Hussain Sagar.

 

Many historic and tourist sites lie in south central Hyderabad, such as the Charminar, the Mecca Masjid, the Salar Jung Museum, the Nizam's Museum, the Falaknuma Palace, and the traditional retail corridor comprising the Pearl Market, Laad Bazaar and Madina Circle. North of the river are hospitals, colleges, major railway stations and business areas such as Begum Bazaar, Koti, Abids, Sultan Bazaar and Moazzam Jahi Market, along with administrative and recreational establishments such as the Reserve Bank of India, the Telangana Secretariat, the Hyderabad Mint, the Telangana Legislature, the Public Gardens, the Nizam Club, the Ravindra Bharathi, the State Museum, the Birla Temple and the Birla Planetarium.

 

North of central Hyderabad lie Hussain Sagar, Tank Bund Road, Rani Gunj and the Secunderabad Railway Station. Most of the city's parks and recreational centres, such as Sanjeevaiah Park, Indira Park, Lumbini Park, NTR Gardens, the Buddha statue and Tankbund Park are located here. In the northwest part of the city there are upscale residential and commercial areas such as Banjara Hills, Jubilee Hills, Begumpet, Khairatabad and Miyapur. The northern end contains industrial areas such as Sanathnagar, Moosapet, Balanagar, Patancheru and Chanda Nagar. The northeast end is dotted with residential areas. In the eastern part of the city lie many defence research centres and Ramoji Film City. The "Cyberabad" area in the southwest and west of the city has grown rapidly since the 1990s. It is home to information technology and bio-pharmaceutical companies and to landmarks such as Hyderabad Airport, Osman Sagar, Himayath Sagar and Kasu Brahmananda Reddy National Park.

 

LANDMARKS

Heritage buildings constructed during the Qutb Shahi and Nizam eras showcase Indo-Islamic architecture influenced by Medieval, Mughal and European styles. After the 1908 flooding of the Musi River, the city was expanded and civic monuments constructed, particularly during the rule of Mir Osman Ali Khan (the VIIth Nizam), whose patronage of architecture led to him being referred to as the maker of modern Hyderabad. In 2012, the government of India declared Hyderabad the first "Best heritage city of India".

 

Qutb Shahi architecture of the 16th and early 17th centuries followed classical Persian architecture featuring domes and colossal arches. The oldest surviving Qutb Shahi structure in Hyderabad is the ruins of Golconda fort built in the 16th century. The Charminar, Mecca Masjid, Charkaman and Qutb Shahi tombs are other existing structures of this period. Among these the Charminar has become an icon of the city; located in the centre of old Hyderabad, it is a square structure with sides 20 m long and four grand arches each facing a road. At each corner stands a 56 m-high minaret. Most of the historical bazaars that still exist were constructed on the street north of Charminar towards Golconda fort. The Charminar, Qutb Shahi tombs and Golconda fort are considered to be monuments of national importance in India; in 2010 the Indian government proposed that the sites be listed for UNESCO World Heritage status.

 

Among the oldest surviving examples of Nizam architecture in Hyderabad is the Chowmahalla Palace, which was the seat of royal power. It showcases a diverse array of architectural styles, from the Baroque Harem to its Neoclassical royal court. The other palaces include Falaknuma Palace (inspired by the style of Andrea Palladio), Purani Haveli, King Kothi and Bella Vista Palace all of which were built at the peak of Nizam rule in the 19th century. During Mir Osman Ali Khan's rule, European styles, along with Indo-Islamic, became prominent. These styles are reflected in the Falaknuma Palace and many civic monuments such as the Hyderabad High Court, Osmania Hospital, Osmania University, the State Central Library, City College, the Telangana Legislature, the State Archaeology Museum, Jubilee Hall, and Hyderabad and Kachiguda railway stations. Other landmarks of note are Paigah Palace, Asman Garh Palace, Basheer Bagh Palace, Errum Manzil and the Spanish Mosque, all constructed by the Paigah family.

 

ECONOMY

Hyderabad is the largest contributor to the gross domestic product (GDP), tax and other revenues, of Telangana, and the sixth largest deposit centre and fourth largest credit centre nationwide, as ranked by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in June 2012. Its US$74 billion GDP made it the fifth-largest contributor city to India's overall GDP in 2011–12. Its per capita annual income in 2011 was ₹44300 (US$670). As of 2006, the largest employers in the city were the governments of Andhra Pradesh (113,098 employees) and India (85,155). According to a 2005 survey, 77% of males and 19% of females in the city were employed. The service industry remains dominant in the city, and 90% of the employed workforce is engaged in this sector.

 

Hyderabad's role in the pearl trade has given it the name "City of Pearls" and up until the 18th century, the city was also the only global trading centre for large diamonds. Industrialisation began under the Nizams in the late 19th century, helped by railway expansion that connected the city with major ports. From the 1950s to the 1970s, Indian enterprises, such as Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL), Nuclear Fuel Complex (NFC), National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC), Bharat Electronics (BEL), Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL), Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics (CDFD), State Bank of Hyderabad (SBH) and Andhra Bank (AB) were established in the city. The city is home to Hyderabad Securities formerly known as Hyderabad Stock Exchange (HSE), and houses the regional office of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). In 2013, the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) facility in Hyderabad was forecasted to provide operations and transactions services to BSE-Mumbai by the end of 2014. The growth of the financial services sector has helped Hyderabad evolve from a traditional manufacturing city to a cosmopolitan industrial service centre. Since the 1990s, the growth of information technology (IT), IT-enabled services (ITES), insurance and financial institutions has expanded the service sector, and these primary economic activities have boosted the ancillary sectors of trade and commerce, transport, storage, communication, real estate and retail.

 

Hyderabad's commercial markets are divided into four sectors: central business districts, sub-central business centres, neighbourhood business centres and local business centres. Many traditional and historic bazaars are located throughout the city, Laad Bazaar being the prominent among all is popular for selling a variety of traditional and cultural antique wares, along with gems and pearls.

 

The establishment of Indian Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Limited (IDPL), a public sector undertaking, in 1961 was followed over the decades by many national and global companies opening manufacturing and research facilities in the city. As of 2010, the city manufactured one third of India's bulk drugs and 16% of biotechnology products, contributing to its reputation as "India's pharmaceutical capital" and the "Genome Valley of India". Hyderabad is a global centre of information technology, for which it is known as Cyberabad (Cyber City). As of 2013, it contributed 15% of India's and 98% of Andhra Pradesh's exports in IT and ITES sectors and 22% of NASSCOM's total membership is from the city. The development of HITEC City, a township with extensive technological infrastructure, prompted multinational companies to establish facilities in Hyderabad. The city is home to more than 1300 IT and ITES firms, including global conglomerates such as Microsoft (operating its largest R&D campus outside the US), Google, IBM, Yahoo!, Dell, Facebook, and major Indian firms including Tech Mahindra, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Polaris and Wipro. In 2009 the World Bank Group ranked the city as the second best Indian city for doing business. The city and its suburbs contain the highest number of special economic zones of any Indian city.

 

Like the rest of India, Hyderabad has a large informal economy that employs 30% of the labour force. According to a survey published in 2007, it had 40–50,000 street vendors, and their numbers were increasing. Among the street vendors, 84% are male and 16% female, and four fifths are "stationary vendors" operating from a fixed pitch, often with their own stall. Most are financed through personal savings; only 8% borrow from moneylenders. Vendor earnings vary from ₹50 (75¢ US) to ₹800 (US$12) per day. Other unorganised economic sectors include dairy, poultry farming, brick manufacturing, casual labour and domestic help. Those involved in the informal economy constitute a major portion of urban poor.

 

CULTURE

Hyderabad emerged as the foremost centre of culture in India with the decline of the Mughal Empire. After the fall of Delhi in 1857, the migration of performing artists to the city particularly from the north and west of the Indian sub continent, under the patronage of the Nizam, enriched the cultural milieu. This migration resulted in a mingling of North and South Indian languages, cultures and religions, which has since led to a co-existence of Hindu and Muslim traditions, for which the city has become noted. A further consequence of this north–south mix is that both Telugu and Urdu are official languages of Telangana.[164] The mixing of religions has also resulted in many festivals being celebrated in Hyderabad such as Ganesh Chaturthi, Diwali and Bonalu of Hindu tradition and Eid ul-Fitr and Eid al-Adha by Muslims.

 

Traditional Hyderabadi garb also reveals a mix of Muslim and South Asian influences with men wearing sherwani and kurta - paijama and women wearing khara dupatta and salwar kameez. Muslim women also commonly wear burqas and hijabs in public. In addition to the traditional Indian and Muslim garments, increasing exposure to western cultures has led to a rise in the wearing of western style clothing among youths.

 

LITERATURE

In the past, Qutb Shahi rulers and Nizams attracted artists, architects and men of letters from different parts of the world through patronage. The resulting ethnic mix popularised cultural events such as mushairas (poetic symposia). The Qutb Shahi dynasty particularly encouraged the growth of Deccani Urdu literature leading to works such as the Deccani Masnavi and Diwan poetry, which are among the earliest available manuscripts in Urdu. Lazzat Un Nisa, a book compiled in the 15th century at Qutb Shahi courts, contains erotic paintings with diagrams for secret medicines and stimulants in the eastern form of ancient sexual arts. The reign of the Nizams saw many literary reforms and the introduction of Urdu as a language of court, administration and education. In 1824, a collection of Urdu Ghazal poetry, named Gulzar-e-Mahlaqa, authored by Mah Laqa Bai - the first female Urdu poet to produce a Diwan - was published in Hyderabad.

 

Hyderabad has continued with these traditions in its annual Hyderabad Literary Festival, held since 2010, showcasing the city's literary and cultural creativity. Organisations engaged in the advancement of literature include the Sahitya Akademi, the Urdu Academy, the Telugu Academy, the National Council for Promotion of Urdu Language, the Comparative Literature Association of India, and the Andhra Saraswata Parishad. Literary development is further aided by state institutions such as the State Central Library, the largest public library in the state which was established in 1891, and other major libraries including the Sri Krishna Devaraya Andhra Bhasha Nilayam, the British Library and the Sundarayya Vignana Kendram.

 

MUSIC AND FILMS

South Indian music and dances such as the Kuchipudi and Kathakali styles are popular in the Deccan region. As a result of their culture policies, North Indian music and dance gained popularity during the rule of the Mughals and Nizams, and it was also during their reign that it became a tradition among the nobility to associate themselves with tawaif (courtesans). These courtesans were revered as the epitome of etiquette and culture, and were appointed to teach singing, poetry and classical dance to many children of the aristocracy. This gave rise to certain styles of court music, dance and poetry. Besides western and Indian popular music genres such as filmi music, the residents of Hyderabad play city-based marfa music, dholak ke geet (household songs based on local Folklore), and qawwali, especially at weddings, festivals and other celebratory events. The state government organises the Golconda Music and Dance Festival, the Taramati Music Festival and the Premavathi Dance Festival to further encourage the development of music.

 

Although the city is not particularly noted for theatre and drama, the state government promotes theatre with multiple programmes and festivals in such venues as the Ravindra Bharati, Shilpakala Vedika and Lalithakala Thoranam. Although not a purely music oriented event, Numaish, a popular annual exhibition of local and national consumer products, does feature some musical performances. The city is home to the Telugu film industry, popularly known as Tollywood and as of 2012, produces the second largest number of films in India with the largest number being produced by Bollywood. Films in the local Hyderabadi dialect are also produced and have been gaining popularity since 2005. The city has also hosted international film festivals such as the International Children's Film Festival and the Hyderabad International Film Festival. In 2005, Guinness World Records declared Ramoji Film City to be the world's largest film studio.

 

ART AND HANDICRAFTS

The region is well known for its Golconda and Hyderabad painting styles which are branches of Deccani painting. Developed during the 16th century, the Golconda style is a native style blending foreign techniques and bears some similarity to the Vijayanagara paintings of neighbouring Mysore. A significant use of luminous gold and white colours is generally found in the Golconda style. The Hyderabad style originated in the 17th century under the Nizams. Highly influenced by Mughal painting, this style makes use of bright colours and mostly depicts regional landscape, culture, costumes and jewellery.

 

Although not a centre for handicrafts itself, the patronage of the arts by the Mughals and Nizams attracted artisans from the region to Hyderabad. Such crafts include: Bidriware, a metalwork handicraft from neighbouring Karnataka, which was popularised during the 18th century and has since been granted a Geographical Indication (GI) tag under the auspices of the WTO act; and Zari and Zardozi, embroidery works on textile that involve making elaborate designs using gold, silver and other metal threads. Another example of a handicraft drawn to Hyderabad is Kalamkari, a hand-painted or block-printed cotton textile that comes from cities in Andhra Pradesh. This craft is distinguished in having both a Hindu style, known as Srikalahasti and entirely done by hand, and an Islamic style, known as Machilipatnam that uses both hand and block techniques. Examples of Hyderabad's arts and crafts are housed in various museums including the Salar Jung Museum (housing "one of the largest one-man-collections in the world"), the AP State Archaeology Museum, the Nizam Museum, the City Museum and the Birla Science Museum.

 

CUISINE

Hyderabadi cuisine comprises a broad repertoire of rice, wheat and meat dishes and the skilled use of various spices. Hyderabadi biryani and Hyderabadi haleem, with their blend of Mughlai and Arab cuisines, have become iconic dishes of India. Hyderabadi cuisine is highly influenced by Mughlai and to some extent by French, Arabic, Turkish, Iranian and native Telugu and Marathwada cuisines. Other popular native dishes include nihari, chakna, baghara baingan and the desserts qubani ka meetha, double ka meetha and kaddu ki kheer (a sweet porridge made with sweet gourd).

 

MEDIA

One of Hyderabad's earliest newspapers, The Deccan Times, was established in the 1780s. In modern times, the major Telugu dailies published in Hyderabad are Eenadu, Andhra Jyothy, Sakshi and Namaste Telangana, while the major English papers are The Times of India, The Hindu and The Deccan Chronicle, and the major Urdu papers include The Siasat Daily, The Munsif Daily and Etemaad. Many coffee table magazines, professional magazines and research journals are also regularly published. The Secunderabad Cantonment Board established the first radio station in Hyderabad State around 1919. Deccan Radio was the first radio public broadcast station in the city starting on 3 February 1935, with FM broadcasting beginning in 2000. The available channels in Hyderabad include All India Radio, Radio Mirchi, Radio City, Red FM and Big FM.

 

Television broadcasting in Hyderabad began in 1974 with the launch of Doordarshan, the Government of India's public service broadcaster, which transmits two free-to-air terrestrial television channels and one satellite channel. Private satellite channels started in July 1992 with the launch of Star TV. Satellite TV channels are accessible via cable subscription, direct-broadcast satellite services or internet-based television. Hyderabad's first dial-up internet access became available in the early 1990s and was limited to software development companies. The first public internet access service began in 1995, with the first private sector internet service provider (ISP) starting operations in 1998. In 2015, high-speed public WiFi was introduced in parts of the city.

 

EDUCATION

Public and private schools in Hyderabad are governed by the Central Board of Secondary Education and follow a "10+2+3" plan. About two-thirds of pupils attend privately run institutions. Languages of instruction include English, Hindi, Telugu and Urdu. Depending on the institution, students are required to sit the Secondary School Certificate or the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education. After completing secondary education, students enroll in schools or junior colleges with a higher secondary facility. Admission to professional graduation colleges in Hyderabad, many of which are affiliated with either Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University Hyderabad (JNTUH) or Osmania University (OU), is through the Engineering Agricultural and Medical Common Entrance Test (EAM-CET).There are 13 universities in Hyderabad: two private universities, two deemed universities, six state universities and three central universities. The central universities are the University of Hyderabad, Maulana Azad National Urdu University and the English and Foreign Languages University. Osmania University, established in 1918, was the first university in Hyderabad and as of 2012 is India's second most popular institution for international students. The Dr. B. R. Ambedkar Open University, established in 1982, is the first distance learning open university in India.

 

Hyderabad is also home to a number of centres specialising in particular fields such as biomedical sciences, biotechnology and pharmaceuticals, such as the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER) and National Institute of Nutrition (NIN). Hyderabad has five major medical schools - Osmania Medical College, Gandhi Medical College, Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences, Deccan College of Medical Sciences and Shadan Institute of Medical Sciences - and many affiliated teaching hospitals. The Government Nizamia Tibbi College is a college of Unani medicine. Hyderabad is also the headquarters of the Indian Heart Association, a non-profit foundation for cardiovascular education.

 

Institutes in Hyderabad include the National Institute of Rural Development, the Indian School of Business, the Institute of Public Enterprise, the Administrative Staff College of India and the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy. Technical and engineering schools include the International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad (IIITH), Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani – Hyderabad (BITS Hyderabad) and Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad (IIT-H) as well as agricultural engineering institutes such as the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) and the Acharya N. G. Ranga Agricultural University. Hyderabad also has schools of fashion design including Raffles Millennium International, NIFT Hyderabad and Wigan and Leigh College. The National Institute of Design, Hyderabad (NID-H), will offer undergraduate and postgraduate courses from 2015.

 

SPORTS

The most popular sports played in Hyderabad are cricket and association football. At the professional level, the city has hosted national and international sports events such as the 2002 National Games of India, the 2003 Afro-Asian Games, the 2004 AP Tourism Hyderabad Open women's tennis tournament, the 2007 Military World Games, the 2009 World Badminton Championships and the 2009 IBSF World Snooker Championship. The city hosts a number of venues suitable for professional competition such as the Swarnandhra Pradesh Sports Complex for field hockey, the G. M. C. Balayogi Stadium in Gachibowli for athletics and football, and for cricket, the Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium and Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, home ground of the Hyderabad Cricket Association. Hyderabad has hosted many international cricket matches, including matches in the 1987 and the 1996 ICC Cricket World Cups. The Hyderabad cricket team represents the city in the Ranji Trophy - a first-class cricket tournament among India's states and cities. Hyderabad is also home to the Indian Premier League franchise Sunrisers Hyderabad. A previous franchise was the Deccan Chargers, which won the 2009 Indian Premier League held in South Africa.

 

During British rule, Secunderabad became a well-known sporting centre and many race courses, parade grounds and polo fields were built. Many elite clubs formed by the Nizams and the British such as the Secunderabad Club, the Nizam Club and the Hyderabad Race Club, which is known for its horse racing especially the annual Deccan derby, still exist. In more recent times, motorsports has become popular with the Andhra Pradesh Motor Sports Club organising popular events such as the Deccan 1/4 Mile Drag, TSD Rallies and 4x4 off-road rallying.

 

International-level sportspeople from Hyderabad include: cricketers Ghulam Ahmed, M. L. Jaisimha, Mohammed Azharuddin, V. V. S. Laxman, Venkatapathy Raju, Shivlal Yadav, Arshad Ayub and Noel David; football players Syed Abdul Rahim, Syed Nayeemuddin and Shabbir Ali; tennis player Sania Mirza; badminton players S. M. Arif, Pullela Gopichand, Saina Nehwal, P. V. Sindhu, Jwala Gutta and Chetan Anand; hockey players Syed Mohammad Hadi and Mukesh Kumar; rifle shooters Gagan Narang and Asher Noria and bodybuilder Mir Mohtesham Ali Khan.

 

TRANSPORT

The most commonly used forms of medium distance transport in Hyderabad include government owned services such as light railways and buses, as well as privately operated taxis and auto rickshaws. Bus services operate from the Mahatma Gandhi Bus Station in the city centre and carry over 130 million passengers daily across the entire network. Hyderabad's light rail transportation system, the Multi-Modal Transport System (MMTS), is a three line suburban rail service used by over 160,000 passengers daily. Complementing these government services are minibus routes operated by Setwin (Society for Employment Promotion & Training in Twin Cities). Intercity rail services also operate from Hyderabad; the main, and largest, station is Secunderabad Railway Station, which serves as Indian Railways' South Central Railway zone headquarters and a hub for both buses and MMTS light rail services connecting Secunderabad and Hyderabad. Other major railway stations in Hyderabad are Hyderabad Deccan Station, Kachiguda Railway Station, Begumpet Railway Station, Malkajgiri Railway Station and Lingampally Railway Station. The Hyderabad Metro, a new rapid transit system, is to be added to the existing public transport infrastructure and is scheduled to operate three lines by 2015. As of 2012, there are over 3.5 million vehicles operating in the city, of which 74% are two-wheelers, 15% cars and 3% three-wheelers. The remaining 8% include buses, goods vehicles and taxis. The large number of vehicles coupled with relatively low road coverage - roads occupy only 9.5% of the total city area - has led to widespread traffic congestion especially since 80% of passengers and 60% of freight are transported by road. The Inner Ring Road, the Outer Ring Road, the Hyderabad Elevated Expressway, the longest flyover in India, and various interchanges, overpasses and underpasses were built to ease the congestion. Maximum speed limits within the city are 50 km/h for two-wheelers and cars, 35 km/h for auto rickshaws and 40 km/h for light commercial vehicles and buses.

 

Hyderabad sits at the junction of three National Highways linking it to six other states: NH-7 runs 2,369 km from Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, in the north to Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu, in the south; NH-9, runs 841 km east-west between Machilipatnam, Andhra Pradesh, and Pune, Maharashtra; and the 280 km NH-163 links Hyderabad to Bhopalpatnam, Chhattisgarh. Five state highways, SH-1, SH-2, SH-4, SH-5 and SH-6, either start from, or pass through, Hyderabad.

 

Air traffic was previously handled via Begumpet Airport, but this was replaced by Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) (IATA: HYD, ICAO: VOHS) in 2008, with the capacity of handling 12 million passengers and 100,000 tonnes of cargo per annum. In 2011, Airports Council International, an autonomous body representing the world's airports, judged RGIA the world's best airport in the 5–15 million passenger category and the world's fifth best airport for service quality.

 

WIKIPEDIA

Three weeks ago while at Costco I ran into this guy that was getting a copy made of his photo of Muhammad Ali as the Grand Marshal in the 1967 Watts Summer Festival and Parade. The photo was taken by my friend's 1st cousin, Howard Bingham. Mr. Bingham was Ali's photographer and close friend.

Explore: Highest position: 470 on Thursday, March 13, 2008

   

Assalamu Alikum, peace be upon you all..

The religion of Islam respects freedoms far more than any laws and other religions. Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him (PBUH), has taught us respect of others' freedoms and rights, principles of sound negotiation, exchange of views, and using the right evidence and proof. Prophet Muhammad has taught us that our freedom of speech should not conflict with respecting all religions and prophets.

 

The art concerning Muhammad (Peace be upon him) is calligraphic in nature, that's according to the Islamic traditions and concepts. It hurts me to see such cartoons mocking my dear Prophet under the cover of "freedom of speech". Blocking ears and closing eyes to such claims and insult to the Prophet of Islam is the gravest aggression against human rights. Nothing further to be said..

 

P.S: This is something that I wanted to do long time ago since I was feeling an agony 'caused by the printing (and reprinting) of these drawings. The photo is displayed for photography criticism purposes. Any insulting comments to any prophet (Peace be upon them all), religion or belief will be deleted.

 

For non-Arabic readers, the photo captures a page of Qur'an, exactly states the following: "But those who believe and work deeds of righteousness, and believe in the (Revelation) sent down to Muhammad - for it is the Truth from their Lord,- He will remove from them their ills and improve their condition. "

A BEAUTIFUL EVENING AT EIFFEL TOWER BAHRIA TOWN LAHORE

Muslims pray during Ramadan 2013 in Doha, Qatar at the Imam Muhammad Ibn Abdul Wahhab Mosque.

Muhammad Sufyan, father of a child has been working as tailor for five years and earns livelihood by running a small shop where he tailors clothes of local people.

 

Photography by: Tanveer ul Qadri

(From Mattel Toy Store)

Sarnia Sertoma Clubs Annual Sportsman Dinner 1974 Guildwood Inn - Muhammad Ali doodle on tablecloth. Larry Csonka was scheduled but couldn't make it (too bad), but Ali stepped in last minute which was "the greatest"!

George Chavalo was also a speaker that night. Saw that Ali was doodling away, didn't know onto what, until after the dinner. Raced up to the table, saw the doodle, saw it was signed, dated and began removing dishes etc and rolled up the tablecloth.

It was a night to remember... #RIP #MuhammadAli #Ali

Muhammad Ali The Greatest Of All Time

Hagia Sophia

Hagia Sophia (from the Greek: Ἁγία Σοφία, "Holy Wisdom"; Latin: Sancta Sophia or Sancta Sapientia; Turkish: Ayasofya) is a former Orthodox patriarchal basilica, later a mosque, and now a museum in Istanbul, Turkey. From the date of its dedication in 360 until 1453, it served as the Greek Patriarchal cathedral of Constantinople, except between 1204 and 1261, when it was converted to a Roman Catholic cathedral under the Latin Patriarch of Constantinople of the Western Crusader established Latin Empire. The building was a mosque from 29 May 1453 until 1931, when it was secularized. It was opened as a museum on 1 February 1935.

 

The Church was dedicated to the Logos, the second person of the Holy Trinity, its dedication feast taking place on 25 December, the anniversary of the Birth of the incarnation of the Logos in Christ. Although it is sometimes referred to as Sancta Sophia (as though it were named after Saint Sophia), sophia is the phonetic spelling in Latin of the Greek word for wisdom – the full name in Greek being Ναός τῆς Ἁγίας τοῦ Θεοῦ Σοφίας, "Church of the Holy Wisdom of God".

 

Famous in particular for its massive dome, it is considered the epitome of Byzantine architecture and is said to have "changed the history of architecture." It was the largest cathedral in the world for nearly a thousand years, until Seville Cathedral was completed in 1520. The current building was originally constructed as a church between 532 and 537 on the orders of the Byzantine Emperor Justinian and was the third Church of the Holy Wisdom to occupy the site, the previous two having both been destroyed by rioters. It was designed by the Greek scientists Isidore of Miletus, a physicist, and Anthemius of Tralles, a mathematician.

 

The church contained a large collection of holy relics and featured, among other things, a 49-foot (15 m) silver iconostasis. It was the seat of the Patriarch of Constantinople and the religious focal point of the Eastern Orthodox Church for nearly one thousand years. It is the church in which Cardinal Humbert in 1054 excommunicated Michael I Cerularius – which is commonly considered the start of the Great Schism.

 

In 1453, Constantinople was conquered by the Ottoman Turks under Sultan Mehmed II, who subsequently ordered the building converted into a mosque. The bells, altar, iconostasis, and sacrificial vessels were removed and many of the mosaics were plastered over. Islamic features – such as the mihrab, minbar, and four minarets – were added while in the possession of the Ottomans. It remained a mosque until 1931 when it was closed to the public for four years. It was re-opened in 1935 as a museum by the Republic of Turkey.

 

For almost 500 years the principal mosque of Istanbul, Hagia Sophia served as a model for many other Ottoman mosques, such as the Sultan Ahmed Mosque (Blue Mosque of Istanbul), the Şehzade Mosque, the Süleymaniye Mosque, the Rüstem Pasha Mosque and the Kılıç Ali Paşa Mosque.

 

History

 

First church

The first church was known as the Μεγάλη Ἐκκλησία (Megálē Ekklēsíā, "Great Church"), or in Latin "Magna Ecclesia", because of its larger dimensions in comparison to the contemporary churches in the City. Inaugurated on 15 February 360 (during the reign of Constantius II) by the Arian bishop Eudoxius of Antioch, it was built next to the area where the imperial palace was being developed. The nearby Hagia Eirene ("Holy Peace") church was completed earlier and served as cathedral until the Hagia Sophia was completed. Both churches acted together as the principal churches of the Byzantine Empire.

 

Writing in 440, Socrates of Constantinople claimed that the church was built by Constantius II, who was working on it in 346. A tradition which is not older than the 7th – 8th century, reports that the edifice was built by Constantine the Great. Zonaras reconciles the two opinions, writing that Constantius had repaired the edifice consecrated by Eusebius of Nicomedia, after it had collapsed. Since Eusebius was bishop of Constantinople from 339 to 341, and Constantine died in 337, it seems possible that the first church was erected by the latter. The edifice was built as a traditional Latin colonnaded basilica with galleries and a wooden roof. It was preceded by an atrium. It was claimed to be one of the world's most outstanding monuments at the time.

 

The Patriarch of Constantinople John Chrysostom came into a conflict with Empress Aelia Eudoxia, wife of the emperor Arcadius, and was sent into exile on 20 June 404. During the subsequent riots, this first church was largely burned down. Nothing remains of the first church today.

 

Second church

Stone remains of the basilica ordered by Theodosius II, showing the Lamb of God

Marble blocks from the second church

 

A second church was ordered by Theodosius II, who inaugurated it on 10 October 415. The basilica with a wooden roof was built by architect Rufinus. A fire started during the tumult of the Nika Revolt and burned the second Hagia Sophia to the ground on 13–14 January 532

 

Several marble blocks from the second church survive to the present; among them are reliefs depicting 12 lambs representing the 12 apostles. Originally part of a monumental front entrance, they now reside in an excavation pit adjacent to the museum's entrance. Discovered in 1935 beneath the western courtyard by A. M. Schneider, further digging was forsaken for fear of impinging on the integrity of the Hagia Sophia.

 

Third church (current structure)

On 23 February 532, only a few days after the destruction of the second basilica, Emperor Justinian I elected to build a third and entirely different basilica, larger and more majestic than its predecessors.

Construction of church depicted in codex Manasses Chronicle

 

Justinian chose physicist Isidore of Miletus and mathematician Anthemius of Tralles as architects; Anthemius, however, died within the first year of the endeavor. The construction is described in the Byzantine historian Procopius' On Buildings (Peri ktismatōn, Latin: De aedificiis). The emperor had material brought from all over the empire – such as Hellenistic columns from the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, large stones from quarries in porphyry from Egypt, green marble from Thessaly, black stone from the Bosporus region, and yellow stone from Syria. More than ten thousand people were employed. This new church was contemporaneously recognized as a major work of architecture. The theories of Heron of Alexandria may have been utilized to address the challenges presented by building such an expansive dome over so large a space. The emperor, together with the patriarch Eutychius, inaugurated the new basilica on 27 December 537 with much pomp. The mosaics inside the church were, however, only completed under the reign of Emperor Justin II (565–578).

 

Hagia Sophia was the seat of the Orthodox patriarch of Constantinople and a principal setting for Byzantine imperial ceremonies, such as coronations. The basilica also offered asylum to wrongdoers.

 

Earthquakes in August 553 and on 14 December 557 caused cracks in the main dome and eastern half-dome. The main dome collapsed completely during a subsequent earthquake on 7 May 558, destroying the ambon, altar, and ciborium. The crash was due mainly to the too high bearing load and to the enormous shearing load of the dome, which was too flat. These caused the deformation of the piers which sustained the dome. The emperor ordered an immediate restoration. He entrusted it to Isidorus the Younger, nephew of Isidore of Miletus, who used lighter materials and elevated the dome by "30 feet" (about 6.25 metres (20.5 ft)) – giving the building its current interior height of 55.6 metres (182 ft). Moreover, Isidorus changed the dome type, erecting a ribbed dome with pendentives, whose diameter lay between 32.7 and 33.5 m. This reconstruction, giving the church its present 6th-century form, was completed in 562. The Byzantine poet Paul the Silentiary composed a long epic poem (still extant), known as Ekphrasis, for the rededication of the basilica presided over by Patriarch Eutychius on 23 December 562.

 

In 726, the emperor Leo the Isaurian issued a series of edicts against the veneration of images, ordering the army to destroy all icons – ushering in the period of Byzantine iconoclasm. At that time, all religious pictures and statues were removed from the Hagia Sophia. After a brief reprieve under Empress Irene (797–802), the iconoclasts made a comeback. Emperor Theophilus (829–842) was strongly influenced by Islamic art, which forbids graven images. He had a two-winged bronze door with his monograms installed at the southern entrance of the church.

 

The basilica suffered damage, first in a great fire in 859, and again in an earthquake on 8 January 869, that made a half-dome collapse. Emperor Basil I ordered the church repaired.

 

After the great earthquake of 25 October 989, which collapsed the Western dome arch, the Byzantine emperor Basil II asked for the Armenian architect Trdat (Armenian: Տրդատ ճարտարապետ; Latin: Tiridates), creator of the great churches of Ani and Argina, to direct the repairs. He erected again and reinforced the fallen dome arch, and rebuilt the west side of the dome with 15 dome ribs. The extent of the damage required six years of repair and reconstruction; the church was re-opened on 13 May 994. At the end of the reconstruction, the church's decorations were renovated, including the additions of paintings of four immense cherubs, a new depiction of Christ on the dome, and on the apse a new depiction of the Virgin Mary holding Jesus between the apostles Peter and Paul. On the great side arches were painted the prophets and the teachers of the church.

 

In his book De caerimoniis aulae Byzantinae ("Book of Ceremonies"), Emperor Constantine VII (913–919) wrote a detailed account of the ceremonies held in the Hagia Sophia by the emperor and the patriarch.

19th Century marker of the tomb of Enrico Dandolo, the Doge of Venice who commanded the Sack of Constantinople in 1204, inside the Hagia Sophia

 

Upon the capture of Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade, the church was ransacked and desecrated by the Latin Christians. The Byzantine historian Niketas Choniates described the capture of Constantinople; many reputed relics from the church – such as a stone from the tomb of Jesus, the Virgin Mary's milk, the shroud of Jesus, and bones of several saints – were sent to churches in the West and can be seen there now in various museums. During the Latin occupation of Constantinople (1204–1261) the church became a Roman Catholic cathedral. Baldwin I of Constantinople was crowned emperor on 16 May 1204 in Hagia Sophia, at a ceremony which closely followed Byzantine practices. Enrico Dandolo, the Doge of Venice who commanded the sack and invasion of the city by the Latin Crusaders in 1204, is buried inside the church. The tomb inscription carrying his name, which has become a part of the floor decoration, was spat upon by many of the angry Byzantines who recaptured Constantinople in 1261. However, restoration led by the brothers Gaspare and Giuseppe Fossati during the period 1847–1849 cast doubt upon the authenticity of the doge's grave; it is more likely a symbolic memorial rather than burial site.

 

After the recapture in 1261 by the Byzantines, the church was in a dilapidated state. In 1317, emperor Andronicus II ordered four new buttresses (Πυραμὶδας, Greek:"Piramídas") to be built in the eastern and northern parts of the church, financing them with the inheritance of his deceased wife, Irene. New cracks developed in the dome after the earthquake of October 1344, and several parts of the building collapsed on 19 May 1346; consequently, the church was closed until 1354, when repairs were undertaken by architects Astras and Peralta.

 

Mosque (1453–1935)

In 1453 Sultan Mehmed laid siege to Constantinople, driven in part by a desire to convert the city to Islam. The Sultan promised his troops three days of unbridled pillage if the city fell, after which he would claim its contents himself. Hagia Sophia was not exempted from the pillage, becoming its focal point as the invaders believed it to contain the greatest treasures of the city. Shortly after the city’s defenses collapsed, pillagers made their way to the Hagia Sophia and battered down its doors. Throughout the siege worshipers participated in the Holy Liturgy and Prayer of the Hours at the Hagia Sophia, and the church formed a refuge for many of those who were unable to contribute to the city’s defense. Trapped in the church, congregants and refugees became booty to be divided amongst the invaders. The building was desecrated and looted, and occupants enslaved or slaughtered; a few of the elderly and infirm were killed, and the remainder chained. Priests continued to perform Christian rites until stopped by the invaders. When the Sultan and his cohort entered the church he insisted it should be at once transformed into a mosque. One of the Ulama then climbed the pulpit and recited the Shahada.

Fountain (Şadırvan) for ritual ablutions

The mihrab located in the apse where the altar used to stand, pointing towards Mecca

 

As written above, immediately after the conquest of Constantinople in 1453, Mehmed II converted Hagia Sophia into the Aya Sofya Mosque. As described by several Western visitors (such as the Córdoban nobleman Pero Tafur and the Florentine Cristoforo Buondelmonti), the church was in a dilapidated state, with several of its doors off; sultan Mehmed II ordered the cleanup of the church and its conversion. He attended the first Friday prayer in the mosque on 1 June 1453. Aya Sofya became the first imperial mosque of Istanbul. To the corresponding Waqf were endowed most of the existing houses in the city and the area of the future Topkapı Palace. Through the imperial charters of 1520 / 926H and 1547 / 954 H shops and parts of the Grand Bazaar and other markets were added to the foundation.Before 1481 a small minaret was erected on the SW corner of the building, above the stair tower. Later, the subsequent sultan, Bayezid II (1481–1512), built another minaret at the NE corner. One of these crashed because of the earthquake of 1509, and around the middle of the 16th century they were both replaced by two diagonally opposite minarets built at the E and W corners of the edifice.

 

In the 16th century the sultan Suleiman the Magnificent (1520–1566) brought back two colossal candlesticks from his conquest of Hungary. They were placed on either side of the mihrab. During the reign of Selim II (1566–1577), the building started showing signs of fatigue and was extensively strengthened with the addition of structural supports to its exterior by the great Ottoman architect Mimar Sinan, who is also considered one of the world's first earthquake engineers. In addition to strengthening the historic Byzantine structure, Sinan built the two additional large minarets at the western end of the building, the original sultan's loge, and the Türbe (mausoleum) of Selim II to the southeast of the building in 1576-7 / 984 H. In order to do that, one year before parts of the Patriarchate at the S corner of the building were pulled down. Moreover, the golden crescent was mounted on the top of the dome, while a respect zone 35 arşin (about 24 m) wide was imposed around the building, pulling down all the houses which in the meantime had nested around it. Later his türbe hosted also 43 tombs of Ottoman princes. In 1594 / 1004 H Mimar (court architect) Davud Ağa built the türbe of Murad III (1574–1595), where the Sultan and his Valide, Safiye Sultan were later buried. The octagonal mausoleum of their son Mehmed III (1595–1603) and his Valide was built next to it in 1608 / 1017 H by royal architect Dalgiç Mehmet Aĝa. His Son Mustafa I (1617–1618; 1622–1623) let convert the Baptistery into his Türbe.

 

Later additions were the sultan's gallery, a minbar decorated with marble, a dais for a sermon and a loggia for a muezzin.

 

Murad III had also two large alabaster Hellenistic urns transported from Pergamon and placed on two sides of the nave.

 

In 1717, under Sultan Ahmed III (1703–1730), the crumbling plaster of the interior was renovated, contributing indirectly to the preservation of many mosaics, which otherwise would have been destroyed by mosque workers. In fact, it was usual for them to sell mosaics stones – believed to be talismans – to the visitors. Sultan Mahmud I ordered the restoration of the building in 1739 and added a medrese (a Koranic school, now the library of the museum), an Imaret (soup kitchen for distribution to the poor) and a library, and in 1740 a Şadirvan (fountain for ritual ablutions), thus transforming it into a külliye, i.e. a social complex. At the same time a new sultan's gallery and a new mihrab were built inside.

 

The most famous restoration of the Aya Sofya was ordered by Sultan Abdülmecid and completed by eight hundred workers between 1847 and 1849, under the supervision of the Swiss-Italian architect brothers Gaspare and Giuseppe Fossati. The brothers consolidated the dome and vaults, straightened the columns, and revised the decoration of the exterior and the interior of the building. The mosaics in the upper gallery were cleaned. The old chandeliers were replaced by new pendant ones. New gigantic circular-framed disks or medallions were hung on columns. They were inscribed with the names of Allah, the Prophet Muhammad, the first four caliphs Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman and Ali, and the two grandchildren of Mohammed: Hassan and Hussain, by the calligrapher Kazasker Mustafa İzzed Effendi (1801–1877). In 1850 the architect Fossati built a new sultan's gallery in a Neo-Byzantine style connected to the royal pavilion behind the mosque. Outside the Aya Sofya, a timekeeper's building and a new madrasah were built. The minarets were altered so that they were of equal height. When the restoration was finished, the mosque was re-opened with ceremonial pomp on 13 July 1849.

 

Source: Wikipedia

 

Camera Nikon D7000

Exposure 1

Aperture f/6.3

Focal Length 10.5 mm

ISO Speed 100

Punjab, Pakistan

 

He is a retired policeman for Pakistan Railway. I learnt from him some very important rules in portrait photography. With every photo you take, through proper interaction and getting to know the person more, you learn a thing or two. Useful and beneficial knowledge should be gathered no matter where it comes from.

 

www.mujahidurrehman.com

Known as Alhamar (Aben Alhamar), founder of the Nasrid dynasty.

Born in Arjona in 1195, he was the creator of the Kingdom of Granada and the architect of the Alhambra.

Louisville, KY

July 2015

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Louisville, KY

July 2015

من هو رسولنا ...كلمات قليله تذكرنا بفضل نبينا

  

محمد بن عبد الله بن عبد المطلب، يعتبره المسلمون رسول الله للبشرية ليعيدهم إلى توحيد الله وعبادته، ويؤمنون بأنه خاتم النبيين والمرسلين،[1] وأنه أشرف المخلوقات وسيّد البشر،[2] كما يعتقدون فيه العصمة.[3] عند ذكر اسمه، يُلحِق المسلمون عبارة «صلى الله عليه وسلم» مع إضافة «وآله» و«وصحبه» في بعض الأحيان، لِمَا جاء في القرآن والسنة النبوية مما يحثهم على الصلاة عليه.[4] اعتبره الكاتب اليهودي مايكل هارت أعظم الشخصيّات أثرًا في تاريخ الإنسانية كلّها باعتباره «الإنسان الوحيد في التاريخ الذي نجح نجاحًا مطلقًا على المستوى الديني والدنيوي».[5] ترك محمد أثرًا كبيرًا في نفوس المسلمين، حتى كثُرت مظاهر محبّتهم وتعظيمهم له، من ذلك الاحتفال بمولده، واتباعهم لأمره وأسلوب حياته وعباداته، وقيامهم بحفظ أقواله وأفعاله وصفاته وجمع ذلك في كتب عُرفت بكتب الحديث النبوي.

 

ولد في مكة في شهر ربيع الأول من عام الفيل قبل ثلاث وخمسين سنة من الهجرة (هجرته من مكة إلى المدينة)، ما يوافق سنة 570 أو 571 ميلاديًا و52 ق هـ.[6] ولد يتيم الأب وفقد أمه في سنّ مبكرة فتربى في كنف جده عبد المطلب ثم من بعده عمه أبي طالب حيث ترعرع، وكان في تلك الفترة يعمل بالرعي ثم بالتجارة. تزوج في سنِّ الخامسة والعشرين من خديجة بنت خويلد وأنجب منها كل أولاده باستثناء إبراهيم. كان قبل الإسلام يرفض عبادة الأوثان والممارسات الوثنية التي كانت منتشرة في مكة.[7] ويؤمن المسلمون أن الوحي نزل عليه وكُلّف بالرسالة وهو ذو أربعين سنة، أمر بالدعوة سرًا لثلاث سنوات، قضى بعدهنّ عشر سنوات أُخَر في مكة مجاهرًا بدعوة أهلها وكل من يرد إليها من التجار والحجيج وغيرهم. هاجر إلى المدينة المنورة والمسماة يثرب آنذاك عام 622م وهو في الثالثة والخمسين من عمره بعد أن تآمر عليه سادات قريش ممن عارضوا دعوته وسعوا إلى قتله، فعاش فيها عشر سنين أُخر داعيًا إلى الإسلام، وأسس بها نواة الحضارة الإسلامية، التي توسعت لاحقًا وشملت مكة وكل المدن والقبائل العربية، حيث وحَّد العرب لأول مرة على ديانة توحيدية ودولة موحدة، ودعا لنبذ العنصرية والعصبية القبلية.[8][9]

  

Who is Muhammad?

  

Muhammad* was born in Makkah in the year 570* at a time when Christianity was not yet fully established in Europe. Since his father died before his birth* and his mother shortly afterwards* he was raised by his uncle from the respected tribe of Quraysh. As he grew up* he became known for his truthfulness* generosity and sincerity* so that he was sought after for his ability to arbitrate in disputes. The historians describe him as calm and meditative.

 

Muhammad was of a deeply religious nature* and had long detested the decadence of his society. It became his habit to meditate from time to time in the Cave of Hira near the summit of Jabal al-Nur* the 'Mountain of Light' near Makkah.

 

How did Muhammad become a prophet and a messenger of God?

  

At the age of 40* while engaged in a meditative retreat* Muhammad received his first revelation from God through the Angel Gabriel. This revelation* which continued for twenty-three years* is known as the Quran.

    

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I work professionally at weddings and other events. please call at 01746700004 for booking.

Muhammad Yunus (born 28 June 1940) is a Bangladeshi economist and founder of the Grameen Bank, an institution that provides microcredit (small loans to poor people possessing no collateral) to help its clients establish creditworthiness and financial self-sufficiency. In 2006 Yunus and Grameen received the Nobel Prize for Peace. Yunus himself has received several other national and international honors.

Muhammad Bashir.

»Nein, ich werde nicht 10.000 Meilen von zu Hause entfernt helfen, eine andere arme Nation zu ermorden und nieder-zubrennen, nur um die Vorherrschaft weißer Sklaven-herren über die dunkleren Völker der Welt sichern zu helfen.«

 

Mit dieser 1967 öffentlich vorgetragenen Weigerung von Muhammad Ali am Vietnamkrieg teilzunehmen, wurde er als amtierender Schwergewichts-Boxweltmeister aus dem Boxbetrieb ausgeschlossen. Zu dieser Zeit stand der als Cassius Marcellus Clay geborene schwarze, äußerst leichtfüßige Boxer Ali auf dem Höhepunkt seiner Karriere.1964 hatte er bekannt gegeben, dass er der von nun an seinen Sklavennamen ablege und ab sofort Muhammad Ali heissen werde…

 

1967 wurde Ali wegen Wehrdienstverweigerung zu fünf Jahren Gefängnis und 10.000 $ Strafe verurteilt, musste aber gegen Zahlung einer nicht ins Gefängnis. Sein Reisepass wurde eingezogen und er konnte drei Jahre lang nicht an Wettkämpfen teilnehmen, da ihm keine Boxlizenz erteilt wurde. Stattdessen widmete er sich gesellschaftspolitischen Fragen, die er oft in Fernsehauftritten ansprach.

 

Ali war nicht nur [ungekrönter] Boxchampion, er entwickelte sich zur Symbolfigur des selbstbewussten, kämpfenden Schwarzen, der mit persönlicher Konsequenz für die Rechte jahrhundertlang unterdrückter Afro-Amerikaner:innen eintrat und v.a. wenig Respekt vor Angriffen der weißen Gesellschaft zeigte. Die mediale Berichterstattung kritisierte vordergründig die Großmäuligkeit von Ali, im Kern war es aber die Empörung darüber, dass ein Schwarzer unbotmäßig gegenüber einer feststehenden weißen Ordnung auftrat und nicht dem erwarteten Bild eines gefügigen [bescheidenen] Dieners bzw. Sklaven entsprach. Ab 1970 arbeite Muhammad Ali an seinem Comeback. Der bereits zu diesem Zeitpunkt weit über den Boxsport hinaus bekannte Ali erlangte Weltruhm mit seinem Kampf gegen George Fore-man in Kinshasa 1974, der Hauptstadt Zaires.

 

Das als »Rumble in the jungle« in die Geschichte eingegangene Ereignis spiegelte abermals die Kolonialgeschichte und Sklaverei wieder. Während George Foreman mit einem deutschen Schäferhund – ähnlich wie zuvor die belgischen Besatzer – der Bevölkerung Kinshasas gegenübertrat, suchte Ali vor allem beim Lauftraining die Nähe zu den Menschen. Innerhalb kürzester Zeit hallte von Zaire aus das »Ali, boma ye!« [»Ali, töte ihn!«] in die Welt; auch Ausdruck der Schärfe in den Befreiungsbemühungen vieler Afrikanischer Länder gegen ihre ehemaligen Ausbeuter. Ali gewann den Kampf und setzte sich damit selbst ein Denkmal. Er boxte in seinem leichtfüßigen und taktisch außergewöhnlichen Stil noch bis Anfang der 1980er Jahre, der sich in seinem Wahlspruch »Flow like a butterfly, sting like a bee« ausdrückte. 1984 wurde bei ihm die Parkinson-Krankheit festgestellt, was in Zusammenhang mit seiner Boxtätigkeit gebracht wird. Eine medizinische Bestätigung dieser These ist bis heute umstritten. Muhammad Ali ist mit zahlreichen Auszeichnungen bestückt, Sportler des Jahrhunderts [1999], Freiheitsmedaille, die höchste zivile Auszeichnung der USA, 2005 wurde Muhammad Ali als erster US-Amerikaner mit der »Otto-Hahn-Friedensmedaille in Gold« der Deutschen Gesellschaft für die Vereinten Nationen in Berlin ausgezeichnet – »für herausragende Verdienste um Frieden und Völkerverständigung« und er erhielt die Ehrendoktorwürde der Columbia-Universität in New York. Der seit 1975 dem sunnitischen Islam zugehörige Ali setzt sich seit den Anschlägen vom 11. September 2001 auf das Zwillingstürme in New York und das Pentagon für eine pazifistische Interpretation des islamischen Glaubens ein. Seine Tocher Laila ist ebenfalls Boxerin. Muhammad Ali verstarb nach langer Krankheit am 03.Juni 2016.

 

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en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Azhar_Mosque

 

Al-Azhar Mosque (Arabic: الجامع الأزهر, romanized: al-Jāmiʿ al-ʾAzhar, lit. 'The Resplendent Congregational Mosque', Egyptian Arabic: جامع الأزهر, romanized: Gāmiʿ el-ʾazhar), known in Egypt simply as al-Azhar, is a mosque in Cairo, Egypt in the historic Islamic core of the city. Commissioned as the new capital of the Fatimid Caliphate in 970, it was the first mosque established in a city that eventually earned the nickname "the City of a Thousand Minarets". Its name is usually thought to derive from az-Zahrāʾ (lit. 'the shining one'), a title given to Fatimah, the daughter of Muhammad.

 

After its dedication in 972, and with the hiring by mosque authorities of 35 scholars in 989, the mosque slowly developed into what it is today.

 

The affiliated Al-Azhar University is the second oldest continuously run one in the world after Al-Qarawiyyin in Idrisid Fes. It has long been regarded as the foremost institution in the Islamic world for the study of Sunni theology and sharia, or Islamic law. In 1961, the university, integrated within the mosque as part of a mosque school since its inception, was nationalized and officially designated an independent university, Al-Azhar Al Sharif, following the Egyptian Revolution of 1952.

 

Over the course of its over a millennium-long history, the mosque has been alternately neglected and highly regarded. Because it was founded as a Shiite Ismaili institution, Saladin and the Sunni Ayyubid dynasty that he founded shunned al-Azhar, removing its status as a congregational mosque and denying stipends to students and teachers at its school. These moves were reversed under the Mamluk Sultanate, under whose rule numerous expansions and renovations took place. Later rulers of Egypt showed differing degrees of deference to the mosque and provided widely varying levels of financial assistance, both to the school and to the upkeep of the mosque. Today, al-Azhar remains a deeply influential institution in Egyptian society that is highly revered in the Sunni Muslim world and a symbol of Islamic Egypt.

 

Name

The city of Cairo was established by the Fatimid general Jawhar al-Siqilli, on behalf of the Fatimid caliph al-Mu'izz, following the Fatimid conquest of Egypt in 969. It was originally named al-Manṣūriyya (المنصورية) after the prior seat of the Fatimid caliphate, al-Mansuriyya in modern Tunisia. The mosque, first used in 972, may have initially been named Jāmiʿ al-Manṣūriyya (جامع المنصورية, "the mosque of Mansuriyya"), as was common practice at the time. It was al-Mu'izz who renamed the city al-Qāhira (القاهرة, "the Victorious"). The name of the mosque thus became Jāmiʿ al-Qāhira (جامع القاهرة, "the mosque of Cairo"), the first transcribed in Arabic sources.

 

The mosque acquired its current name, al-ʾAzhar, sometime between the caliphate of al-Mu'izz and the end of the reign of the second Fatimid caliph in Egypt, al-Aziz Billah (r. 975–996).ʾAzhar is the masculine form for zahrāʾ, meaning "splendid" or "most resplendent". Zahrāʾ is an epithet applied to Muhammad's daughter Fatimah, wife of caliph Ali. She was claimed as the ancestress of al-Mu'izz and the imams of the Fatimid dynasty; one theory is that her epithet is the source for the name al-ʾAzhar. The theory, however, is not confirmed in any Arabic source and its plausibility has been both supported and denied by later Western sources.

 

An alternative theory is that the mosque's name is derived from the names given by the Fatimid caliphs to their palaces. Those near the mosque were collectively named al-Quṣūr al-Zāhira (القصور الزاهرة, "the Brilliant Palaces") by al-Aziz Billah, and the royal gardens were named after another derivative of the word zahra. The palaces had been completed and named prior to the mosque changing its name from Jāmiʿ al-Qāhira to al-ʾAzhar.

 

The word Jāmiʿ is derived from the Arabic root word jamaʿa (g-m-ʿ), meaning "to gather". The word is used for large congregational mosques. While in classical Arabic the name for al-Azhar remains Jāmiʿ al-ʾAzhar, the pronunciation of the word Jāmiʿ changes to Gāmaʿ in Egyptian Arabic.[c]

 

History

A paved courtyard is visible in the foreground, and behind it a wall of angular keel-shaped arched bays supported by columns. Behind the wall, two minarets, a dome, and another minaret are visible from left to right. In the far background in the center the top of another minaret can be seen.

The courtyard of the mosque, dating to the Fatimid period. Above, the minarets date from the Mamluk period. From left to right: the double-finial minaret of Qansuh al-Ghuri, the minaret of Qaytbay, and the minaret of Aqbugha (behind the dome).

Fatimid Caliphate

 

After the conquest of Egypt, Jawhar al-Siqilli oversaw the construction of the royal enclosure for the caliph's court and the Fatimid army, and had al-Azhar built as a base to spread Isma'ili Shi'a Islam. Located near the densely populated Sunni city of Fustat, Cairo became the center of the Isma'ili sect of Shi'a Islam, and seat of the Fatimid empire.

 

Jawhar ordered the construction of a congregational mosque for the new city and work commenced on April 4, 970. The mosque was completed in 972 and the first Friday prayers were held there on June 22, 972 during Ramadan.

 

Al-Azhar soon became a center of learning in the Islamic world, and official pronouncements and court sessions were issued from and convened there. Under Fatimid rule, the previously secretive teachings of the Isma'ili madh'hab (school of law) were made available to the general public. Al-Nu'man ibn Muhammad was appointed qadi (judge) under al-Mu'izz and placed in charge of the teaching of the Isma'ili doctrine. Classes were taught at the palace of the caliph, as well as at al-Azhar, with separate sessions available to women. During Eid al-Fitr in 973, the mosque was rededicated by the caliph as the official congregational mosque in Cairo. Al-Mu'izz, and his son—when he in turn became caliph—would preach at least one Friday khutbah (sermon) during Ramadan at al-Azhar.

 

Yaqub ibn Killis, a polymath, jurist and the first official vizier of the Fatimids, made al-Azhar a key center for instruction in Islamic law in 988. The following year, 45 scholars were hired to give lessons, laying the foundation for what would become the leading university in the Muslim world.

 

The mosque was expanded during the rule of the caliph al-Aziz Billah. According to al-Mufaddal, he ordered the restoration of portions of the mosque and had the ceiling raised by one cubit. The next Fatimid caliph, al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah (r. 996–1021), would continue to renovate the mosque, providing a new wooden door in 1010. However, al-Hakim's reign saw the completion of the al-Hakim Mosque, and al-Azhar lost its status as Cairo's primary congregational mosque. In May 1009 the al-Hakim Mosque became the sole location for the caliph's sermons; prior to this, al-Hakim would rotate where the Friday sermon was held. Following al-Hakim's reign, al-Azhar was restored by Caliph al-Mustansir Billah (r. 1036–1094). Additions and renovations were carried during the reign of the remaining Fatimid caliphs. Caliph al-Hafiz undertook a major refurbishment in 1138, which established the keel-shaped arches and carved stucco decoration seen in the courtyard today, as well as the dome at the central entrance of the prayer hall.

 

Initially lacking a library, al-Azhar was endowed by the Fatimid caliph in 1005 with thousands of manuscripts that formed the basis of its collection. Fatimid efforts to establish Isma'ili practice among the population were, however largely unsuccessful. Much of its manuscript collection was dispersed in the chaos that ensued with the fall of the Fatimid Caliphate, and Al-Azhar became a Sunni institution shortly thereafter.

 

Ayyubid dynasty

Saladin, who overthrew the Fatimids in 1171, was hostile to the Shi’ite principles of learning propounded at al-Azhar during the Fatimid Caliphate, and under his Ayyubid dynasty the mosque suffered from neglect. Congregational prayers were banned by Sadr al-Din ibn Dirbass, appointed qadi by Saladin. The reason for this edict may have been Shāfi‘ī teachings that proscribe congregational prayers in a community to only one mosque, or mistrust of the former Shi'a institution by the new Sunni ruler. By this time, the much larger al-Hakim Mosque was completed; congregational prayers in Cairo were held there.

 

In addition to stripping al-Azhar of its status as congregational mosque, Saladin also ordered the removal from the mihrab of the mosque a silver band on which the names of the Fatimid caliphs had been inscribed. This and similar silver bands removed from other mosques totaled 5,000 dirhems. Saladin did not completely disregard the upkeep of the mosque and according to al-Mufaddal one of the mosque's minarets was raised during Saladin's rule.

 

The teaching center at the mosque also suffered. The once well stocked library at al-Azhar was neglected, and manuscripts of Fatimid teachings that were held at al-Azhar were destroyed. The Ayyubid dynasty promoted the teaching of Sunni theology in subsidized madrasas (schools) built throughout Cairo. Student funding was withdrawn, organized classes were no longer held at the mosque, and the professors that had prospered under the Fatimids were forced to find other means to earn their living.

 

Al-Azhar nevertheless remained the seat of Arabic philology and a place of learning throughout this period. While official classes were discontinued, private lessons were still offered in the mosque. There are reports that a scholar, possibly al-Baghdadi, taught a number of subjects, such as law and medicine, at al-Azhar. Saladin reportedly paid him a salary of 30 dinars, which was increased to 100 dinars by Saladin's heirs. While the mosque was neglected by Saladin and his heirs, the policies of the Sunni Ayyubid dynasty would have a lasting impact on al-Azhar. Educational institutions were established by Sunni rulers as a way of combating what they regarded as the heretical teachings of Shi'a Islam. These colleges, ranging in size, focused on teaching Sunni doctrine, had an established and uniform curriculum that included courses outside of purely religious topics, such as rhetorics, math, and science. No such colleges had been established in Egypt by the time of Saladin's conquest. Saladin and the later rulers of the Ayyubid dynasty would build twenty-six colleges in Egypt, among them the Salihiyya Madrasa.

 

Al-Azhar eventually adopted Saladin's educational reforms modeled on the college system he instituted, and its fortunes improved under the Mamluks, who restored student stipends and salaries for the shuyūkh (teaching staff).

 

Mamluk Sultanate

A man with a full beard and turban reclines on his right side on a carpet, with his elbow and back resting on a pillow, next to an open arched window. His right hand holds a fly-whisk; in front of him on the floor is a sheathed sword.

A Mamluk bey

 

Congregational prayers were reestablished at al-Azhar during the Mamluk Sultanate by Sultan Baibars in 1266. While Shāfi‘ī teachings, which Saladin and the Ayyubids followed, stipulated that only one mosque should be used as a congregational mosque in a community, the Hanafi madh'hab, to which the Mamluks adhered, placed no such restriction. Al-Azhar had by now lost its association with the Fatimids and Ismāʿīli doctrines, and with Cairo's rapid expansion, the need for mosque space allowed Baibars to disregard al-Azhar's history and restore the mosque to its former prominence. Under Baibars and the Mamluk Sultanate, al-Azhar saw the return of stipends for students and teachers, as well as the onset of work to repair the mosque, which had been neglected for nearly 100 years. According to al-Mufaddal, the emir 'Izz al-Din Aydamur al-Hilli built his house next to the mosque and while doing so repaired the mosque. Al-Maqrizi reports that the emir repaired the walls and roof as well as repaving and providing new floor mats. The first khutbah since the reign of the Fatimid caliph al-Hakim took place on 16 January 1266 with the sermon delivered on a new pulpit completed five days earlier.

 

An earthquake in 1302 caused damage to al-Azhar and a number of other mosques throughout Mamluk territory. The responsibility for reconstruction was split among the amirs (princes) of the Sultanate and the head of the army, Sayf al-Din Salar, who was tasked with repairing the damage. These repairs were the first done since the reign of Baibars. Seven years later, a dedicated school, the Madrasa al-Aqbughawiyya, was built along the northwest wall of the mosque. Portions of the wall of the mosque were removed to accommodate the new building. Construction of another school, the Madrasa al-Taybarsiyya began in 1332–1333. This building, which was completed in 1339-1340, would also impact the structure of the mosque as it was built over the site of the mida'a, the fountain for ablution. Both of the madrasas were built as complementary buildings to al-Azhar, with separate entrances and prayer halls.

 

Though the mosque had regained its standing in Cairo, repairs and additional work were carried out by those in positions lower than sultan. This changed under the rule of al-Zahir Barquq, the first sultan of the Burji dynasty. Both Sultan Barquq and then Sultan al-Mu'ayyad tried, in 1397 and 1424 respectively, to replace the minaret of al-Azhar with a new one in stone, but on both occasions the construction was found to be defective and had to be pulled down. The resumption of direct patronage by those in the highest positions of government continued through to the end of Mamluk rule. Improvements and additions were made by the sultans Qaytbay and Qansuh al-Ghuri, each of whom oversaw numerous repairs and erected minarets that still stand today. It was common practice among the Mamluk sultans to build minarets, perceived as symbols of power and the most effective way of cementing one's position in the Cairo cityscape. The sultans wished to have a noticeable association with the prestigious al-Azhar. Al-Ghuri may also have rebuilt the dome in front of the original mihrab.

 

Although the mosque-school was the leading university in the Islamic world and had regained royal patronage, it did not overtake the madrasas as the favored place of education among Cairo's elite. Al-Azhar maintained its reputation as an independent place of learning, whereas the madrasas that had first been constructed during Saladin's rule were fully integrated into the state educational system. Al-Azhar did continue to attract students from other areas in Egypt and the Middle East, far surpassing the numbers attending the madrasas. Al-Azhar's student body was organized in riwaqs (fraternities) along national lines, and the branches of Islamic law were studied. The average degree required six years of study.

 

By the 14th century, al-Azhar had achieved a preeminent place as the center for studies in law, theology, and Arabic, becoming a cynosure for students all around the Islamic world. However, only one third of the ulema (Islamic scholars) of Egypt were reported to have either attended or taught at al-Azhar. One account, by Muhammad ibn Iyas, reports that the Salihiyya Madrasa, and not al-Azhar, was viewed as the "citadel of the ulema" at the end of the Mamluk Sultanate.

 

Province of the Ottoman Empire

Two arched entrance-ways in the portico of a large two-story building face a street. Above the arches the building's wall is carved and ornamented. To the right, the building rises to a third story. Behind the wall two minarets framing the top of a dome are visible.

Bab al-Muzayinīn (Gate of the Barbers), built by Abd al-Rahman Katkhuda during Ottoman rule. The minaret on the left, atop the Madrasa al-Aqbughawiyya, was also remodeled by Katkhuda, before being remodeled again in the 20th century.

With the Ottoman annexation of 1517, despite the mayhem their fight to control the city engendered, the Turks showed great deference to the mosque and its college, though direct royal patronage ceased. Sultan Selim I, the first Ottoman ruler of Egypt, attended al-Azhar for the congregational Friday prayer during his last week in Egypt, but did not donate anything to the upkeep of the mosque. Later Ottoman amirs likewise regularly attended Friday prayers at al-Azhar, but rarely provided subsidies for the maintenance of the mosque, though they did on occasion provide stipends for students and teachers. In contrast to the expansions and additions undertaken during the Mamluk Sultanate, only two Ottoman walīs (governors) restored al-Azhar in the early Ottoman period.

 

Despite their defeat by Selim I and the Ottomans in 1517, the Mamluks remained influential in Egyptian society, becoming beys ("chieftains"), nominally under the control of the Ottoman governors, instead of amirs at the head of an empire. The first governor of Egypt under Selim I was Khai'r Bey, a Mamluk amir who had defected to the Ottomans during the Battle of Marj Dabiq. Though the Mamluks launched multiple revolts to reinstate their Sultanate, including two in 1523, the Ottomans refrained from completely destroying the Mamluk hold over the power structure of Egypt. The Mamluks did suffer losses—both economic and military—in the immediate aftermath of the Ottoman victory, and this was reflected in the lack of financial assistance provided to al-Azhar in the first hundred years of Ottoman rule. By the 18th century the Mamluk elite had regained much of its influence and began to sponsor numerous renovations throughout Cairo and at al-Azhar specifically.

 

Al-Qazdughli, a powerful Mamluk bey, sponsored several additions and renovations in the early 18th century. Under his direction, a riwaq for blind students was added in 1735. He also sponsored the rebuilding of the Turkish and Syrian riwaqs, both of which had originally been built by Qaytbay.

 

This marked the beginning of the largest set of renovations to be undertaken since the expansions conducted under the Mamluk Sultanate. Abd al-Rahman Katkhuda was appointed katkhuda (head of the Janissaries) in 1749 and embarked on several projects throughout Cairo and at al-Azhar. Under his direction, three new gates were built: the Bab al-Muzayinīn (the Gate of the Barbers), so named because students would have their heads shaved outside of the gate, which eventually became the main entrance to the mosque; the Bab al-Sa'ayida (the Gate of the Sa'idis), named for the Sa'idi people of Upper Egypt; and, several years later, the Bab al-Shurba (the Soup Gate), from which food, often rice soup, would be served to the students. A prayer hall was added to the south of the original one, doubling the size of the available prayer space. Katkhuda also refurbished or rebuilt several of the riwaqs that surrounded the mosque. Katkhuda was buried in a mausoleum he himself had built in Al-Azhar; in 1776, he became the first person (and the last) to be interred within the mosque since Nafissa al-Bakriyya, a female mystic who had died around 1588.

 

During the Ottoman period, al-Azhar regained its status as a favored institution of learning in Egypt, overtaking the madrasas that had been originally instituted by Saladin and greatly expanded by the Mamluks. By the end of the 18th century, al-Azhar had become inextricably linked to the ulema of Egypt. The ulema also were able to influence the government in an official capacity, with several sheikhs appointed to advisory councils that reported to the pasha (honorary governor), who in turn was appointed for only one year. This period also saw the introduction of more secular courses taught at al-Azhar, with science and logic joining philosophy in the curriculum. During this period, al-Azhar saw its first non-Maliki rector; Abdullah al-Shubrawi, a follower of the Shafii madhab, was appointed rector. No follower of the Maliki madhab would serve as rector until 1899 when Salim al-Bishri was appointed to the post.

 

Al-Azhar also served as a focal point for protests against the Ottoman occupation of Egypt, both from within the ulema and from among the general public. Student protests at al-Azhar were common, and shops in the vicinity of the mosque would often close out of solidarity with the students. The ulema was also on occasion able to defy the government. In one instance, in 1730–31, Ottoman aghas harassed the residents living near al-Azhar while pursuing three fugitives. The gates at al-Azhar were closed in protest and the Ottoman governor, fearing a larger uprising, ordered the aghas to refrain from going near al-Azhar. Another disturbance occurred in 1791 in which the wāli harassed the people near the al-Hussein Mosque, who then went to al-Azhar to demonstrate. The wāli was subsequently dismissed from his post.

 

French occupation

Napoleon invaded Egypt in July 1798, arriving in Alexandria on July 2 and moving on to Cairo on July 22. In a bid to placate both the Egyptian population and the Ottoman Empire, Napoleon gave a speech in Alexandria in which he proclaimed his respect for Islam and the Sultan:

 

People of Egypt, you will be told that I have come to destroy your religion: do not believe it! Answer that I have come to restore your rights and punish the usurpers, and that, more than the Mamluks, I respect God, his Prophet and the Koran ... Is it not we who have been through the centuries the friends of the Sultan

 

A man in a late 17th-century French military uniform, wearing a bicorne hat decorated with three large plumes or leaves stands on the right of the image, a sheathed sword at his left side. He is presenting a red white and blue scarf to a full-bearded man on the left of the image. The man accepting the scarf stands with his head slightly bowed and palms crossed and flat on his chest, wearing a large square turban and long blue and gold caftan that reaches his feet. To his left is a palm tree, and in the far background pyramids and camels.

Napoleon presenting an Egyptian bey a tricolor scarf (1798–1800)

On July 25 Napoleon set up a diwan made up of nine al-Azhar sheikhs tasked with governing Cairo, the first body of Egyptians to hold official powers since the beginning of the Ottoman occupation. This practice of forming councils among the ulema of a city, first instituted in Alexandria, was put in place throughout French-occupied Egypt. Napoleon also unsuccessfully sought a fatwa from the al-Azhar imams that would deem it permissible under Islamic law to declare allegiance to Napoleon.

 

Napoleon's efforts to win over both the Egyptians and the Ottomans proved unsuccessful; the Ottoman Empire declared war on 9 September 1798, and a revolt against French troops was launched from al-Azhar on 21 October 1798. Egyptians armed with stones, spears, and knives rioted and looted. The following morning the diwan met with Napoleon in an attempt to bring about a peaceful conclusion to the hostilities. Napoleon, initially incensed, agreed to attempt a peaceful resolution and asked the sheikhs of the diwan to organize talks with the rebels. The rebels, believing the move indicated weakness among the French, refused. Napoleon then ordered that the city be fired upon from the Cairo Citadel, aiming directly at al-Azhar. During the revolt two to three hundred French soldiers were killed, with 3,000 Egyptian casualties. Six of the ulema of al-Azhar were killed following summary judgments laid against them, with several more condemned. Any Egyptian caught by French troops was imprisoned or, if caught bearing weapons, beheaded. The French troops intentionally desecrated the mosque, walking in with their shoes on and guns displayed. The troops tied their horses to the mihrab and ransacked the student quarters and libraries, throwing copies of the Quran on the floor. The leaders of the revolt then attempted to negotiate a settlement with Napoleon, but were rebuffed.

 

Napoleon, who had been well respected in Egypt and had earned himself the nickname Sultan el-Kebir (the Great Sultan) among the people of Cairo, lost their admiration and was no longer so addressed. In March 1800, French General Jean Baptiste Kléber was assassinated by Suleiman al-Halabi, a student at al-Azhar. Following the assassination, Napoleon ordered the closing of the mosque; the doors remained bolted until Ottoman and British assistance arrived in August 1801.

 

The conservative tradition of the mosque, with its lack of attention to science, was shaken by Napoleon's invasion. A seminal innovation occurred with the introduction of printing presses to Egypt, finally enabling the curriculum to shift from oral lectures and memorization to instruction by text, though the mosque itself only acquired its own printing press in 1930. Upon the withdrawal of the French, Muhammad Ali Pasha encouraged the establishment of secular learning, and history, math, and modern science were adopted into the curriculum. By 1872, under the direction of Jamāl al-Dīn al-Afghānī, European philosophy was also added to the study program.

 

Muhammad Ali Dynasty and British occupation

A man with a full white beard and long trained mustache faces the viewer. He wears a white turban and back robe. High on his waist is a gold sash decorated with purple and orange stripes. His left hand holds a cord that goes across his chest, and is connected to a sheathed sword in front of him.

Muhammad Ali, founder of the Alawiyya Dynasty which ruled Egypt from 1805 until the Egyptian Revolution in 1952

Following the French withdrawal, Ali, the wāli (governor) and self-declared khedive (viceroy) of Egypt, sought to consolidate his newfound control of the country. To achieve this goal he took a number of steps to limit, and eventually eliminate, the ability of the al-Azhar ulema to influence the government. He imposed taxes on rizqa lands (tax-free property owned by mosques) and madrasas, from which al-Azhar drew a major portion of its income. In June 1809, he ordered that the deeds to all rizqa lands be forfeited to the state in a move that provoked outrage among the ulema. As a result, Umar Makram, the naqib al-ashraf, a prestigious Islamic post, led a revolt in July 1809. The revolt failed and Makram, an influential ally of the ulema, was exiled to Damietta.

 

Ali also sought to limit the influence of the al-Azhar sheikhs by allocating positions within the government to those educated outside of al-Azhar. He sent select students to France to be educated under a Western system and created an educational system based on that model that was parallel to, and thus bypassed, the system of al-Azhar.

 

Under the rule of Isma'il Pasha, the grandson of Muhammad Ali, major public works projects were initiated with the aim of transforming Cairo into a European styled city. These projects, at first funded by a boom in the cotton industry, eventually racked up a massive debt which was held by the British, providing an excuse for the British to occupy Egypt in 1882 after having pushed out Isma'il Pasha in 1879.

 

The reign of Isma'il Pasha also saw the return of royal patronage to al-Azhar. As khedive, Isma'il restored the Bab al-Sa'ayida (first built by Katkhuda) and the Madrasa al-Aqbughawiyya. Tewfik Pasha, Isma'il's son, who became khedive when his father was deposed as a result of British pressure, continued to restore the mosque. Tewfik renovated the prayer hall that was added by Katkhuda, aligned the southeastern facade of the hall with the street behind it, and remodeled the facade of the Madrasa al-Aqbughawiya along with several other areas of the mosque. Abbas Hilmi II succeeded his father Tewfik as khedive of Egypt and Sudan in 1892, and continued the renovations started by his grandfather Isma'il. He restructured the main facade of the mosque and built a new three-story riwaq in neo-Mamluk style along the mosque's southwestern corner (known as the Riwaq al-'Abbasi) which was completed in 1901. Under his rule, the Committee for the Conservation of Monuments of Arab Art (also known as the "Comité"), also restored the original Fatimid sahn. These renovations were both needed and helped modernize al-Azhar and harmonize it with what was becoming a metropolis.

 

The major set of reforms that began under the rule of Isma'il Pasha continued under the British occupation. Muhammad Mahdi al-'Abbasi, sheikh al-Azhar, had instituted a set of reforms in 1872 intended to provide structure to the hiring practices of the university as well as to standardize the examinations taken by students. Further efforts to modernize the educational system were made under Hilmi's rule during the British occupation. The mosque's manuscripts were gathered into a centralized library, sanitation for students improved, and a regular system of exams instituted. From 1885, other colleges in Egypt were placed directly under the administration of the al-Azhar Mosque.

 

During Sa'ad Zaghloul's term as minister of education, before he went on to lead the Egyptian Revolution of 1919, further efforts were made to modify the educational policy of al-Azhar. While a bastion of conservatism in many regards, the mosque was opposed to Islamic fundamentalism, especially as espoused by the Muslim Brotherhood, founded in 1928.[59] The school attracted students from throughout the world, including students from Southeast Asia and particularly Indonesia, providing a counterbalance to the influence of the Wahhabis in Saudi Arabia.

 

Under the reign of King Fuad I, two laws were passed that reorganized the educational structure at al-Azhar. The first of these, in 1930, split the school into three departments: Arabic language, sharia, and theology, with each department located in buildings outside of the mosque throughout Cairo. Additionally, formal examinations were required to earn a degree in one of these three fields of study. Six years later, a second law was passed that moved the main office for the school to a newly constructed building across the street from the mosque. Additional structures were later added to supplement the three departmental buildings.

 

The ideas advocated by several influential reformers in the early 1900s, such as Muhammad Abduh and Muhammad al-Ahmadi al-Zawahiri, began to take hold at al-Azhar in 1928, with the appointment of Mustafa al-Maraghi as rector. A follower of Abduh, the majority of the ulema opposed his appointment. Al-Maraghi and his successors began a series of modernizing reforms of the mosque and its school, expanding programs outside of the traditional subjects. Fuad disliked al-Maraghi, and had him replaced after one year by al-Zawahiri, but al-Maraghi would return to the post of rector in 1935, serving until his death in 1945. Under his leadership, al-Azhar's curriculum was expanded to include non-Arabic languages and modern sciences. Al-Zawahiri, who had also been opposed by the ulema of the early 1900s, continued the efforts to modernize and reform al-Azhar. Following al-Maraghi's second term as rector, another student of Abduh was appointed rector.

 

Post 1952 revolution

Following the Egyptian Revolution of 1952, led by the Free Officers Movement of Mohamed Naguib and Gamal Abdel Nasser, in which the Egyptian monarchy was overthrown, the university began to be separated from the mosque. A number of properties that surrounded the mosque were acquired and demolished to provide space for a modern campus by 1955. The mosque itself would no longer serve as a school, and the college was officially designated a university in 1961. The 1961 law separated the dual roles of the educational institution and the religious institution which made judgments heeded throughout the Muslim world. The law also created secular departments within al-Azhar, such as colleges of medicine, engineering, and economics, furthering the efforts at modernization first seen following the French occupation. The reforms of the curriculum have led to a massive growth in the number of Egyptian students attending al-Azhar run schools, specifically youths attending primary and secondary schools within the al-Azhar system. The number of students reported to attend al-Azhar primary and secondary schools increased from under 90,000 in 1970 to 300,000 in the early 1980s, up to nearly one million in the early 1990s, and exceeding 1.3 million students in 2001.

 

A smiling man with a black mustache faces the viewer's left. His hair is dark and short, white at the temples. He is wearing a western-style two-piece gray suit and white shirt, with an angularly striped tie and visible white pocket handkerchief. Behind him several faces are visible.

Gamal Abdel Nasser, who led the Egyptian Revolution in 1952 with Mohamed Naguib, instituted several reforms of al-Azhar

During his tenure as Prime Minister, and later President, Nasser continued the efforts to limit the power of the ulema of al-Azhar and to use its influence to his advantage. In 1952, the waqfs were nationalized and placed under the authority of the newly created Ministry of Religious Endowments, cutting off the ability of the mosque to control its financial affairs. He abolished the sharia courts, merging religious courts with the state judicial system in 1955, severely limiting the independence of the ulema. The 1961 reform law, which invalidated an earlier law passed in 1936 that had guaranteed the independence of al-Azhar, gave the President of Egypt the authority to appoint the sheikh al-Azhar, a position first created during Ottoman rule and chosen from and by the ulema since its inception. Al-Azhar, which remained a symbol of the Islamic character of both the nation and the state, continued to influence the population while being unable to exert its will over the state. Al-Azhar became increasingly co-opted into the state bureaucracy after the revolution—independence of its curriculum and its function as a mosque ceased. The authority of the ulema were further weakened by the creation of government agencies responsible for providing interpretations of religious laws. While these reforms dramatically curtailed the independence of the ulema, they also had the effect of reestablishing their influence by integrating them further into the state apparatus. The 1961 reform law also provided the ulema with the resources of the state, though the purse strings were outside of their control. While Nasser sought to subjugate the ulema beneath the state, he did not allow more extreme proposals to limit the influence of al-Azhar. One such proposal was made by Taha Hussein in 1955. Hussein sought to dismantle the Azharite primary and secondary educational system and transform the university into a faculty of theology which would be included within the modern, secular, collegiate educational system. The ulema opposed this plan, though Nasser's choice of maintaining al-Azhar's status was due more to personal political considerations, such as the use of al-Azhar to grant legitimacy to the regime, than on the opposition of the ulema.

 

Al-Azhar, now fully integrated as an arm of the government, was then used to justify actions of the government. Although the ulema had in the past issued rulings that socialism is irreconcilable with Islam, following the Revolution's land reforms new rulings were supplied giving Nasser a religious justification for what he termed an "Islamic" socialism. The ulema would also serve as a counterweight to the Muslim Brotherhood, and to Saudi Arabia's Wahhabi influence. An assassination attempt on Nasser was blamed on the Brotherhood, and the organization was outlawed. Nasser, needing support from the ulema as he initiated mass arrests of Brotherhood members, relaxed some of the restrictions placed on al-Azhar. The ulema of al-Azhar in turn consistently supported him in his attempts to dismantle the Brotherhood, and continued to do so in subsequent regimes. Despite the efforts of Nasser and al-Azhar to discredit the Brotherhood, the organization continued to function. Al-Azhar also provided legitimacy for war with Israel in 1967, declaring the conflict against Israel a "holy struggle".

 

Following Nasser's death in 1970, Anwar Sadat became President of Egypt. Sadat wished to restore al-Azhar as a symbol of Egyptian leadership throughout the Arab world, saying that "the Arab world cannot function without Egypt and its Azhar". Recognizing the growing influence of the Muslim Brotherhood, Sadat relaxed several restrictions on the Brotherhood and the ulema as a whole. However, in an abrupt about-face, in September 1971 a crackdown was launched on journalists and organizations that Sadat felt were undermining or attacking his positions. As part of this effort to silence criticism of his policies, Sadat instituted sanctions against any of the ulema who criticized or contradicted official state policies. The ulema of al-Azhar continued to be used as a tool of the government, sparking criticism among several groups, including Islamist and other more moderate groups. Shukri Mustafa, an influential Islamist figure, accused the ulema of providing religious judgments for the sole purpose of government convenience. When Sadat needed support for making peace with Israel, which the vast majority of the Egyptian population regarded as an enemy, al-Azhar provided a decree stating that the time had come to make peace.

 

Hosni Mubarak succeeded Sadat as President of Egypt following Sadat's assassination in 1981. While al-Azhar would continue to oblige the government in granting a religious legitimacy to its dictates, the mosque and its clergy were given more autonomy under Mubarak's regime. Under Jad al-Haq, the sheikh of al-Azhar from 1982 until his death in 1994, al-Azhar asserted its independence from the state, at times criticizing policies of the state for instigating extremist Islamist sects. Al-Haq argued that if the government wished al-Azhar to effectively combat groups such as al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya then al-Azhar must be permitted greater independence from the state and for it to be allowed to make religious declarations without interference. Under Mubarak, a number of powers of the state were ceded to al-Azhar. During the 1990s, modifications to existing censorship laws gave al-Azhar the ability to censor both print and electronic media. Though the law stipulates that al-Azhar may only become involved following a complaint, in practice its role has been much more pervasive; for example, television scripts were routinely sent to al-Azhar for approval prior to airing.

 

Al-Azhar continues to hold a status above other Sunni religious authorities throughout the world, and as Sunnis form a large majority of the total Muslim population al-Azhar exerts considerable influence on the Islamic world as a whole. In addition to being the default authority within Egypt, al-Azhar has been looked to outside of Egypt for religious judgments. Prior to the Gulf War, Saudi Arabia's King Fahd asked for a fatwa authorizing the stationing of foreign troops within the kingdom, and despite Islam's two holiest sites being located within Saudi Arabia, he asked the head sheikh of al-Azhar instead of the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia. In 2003, Nicolas Sarkozy, at the time French Minister of the Interior, requested a judgment from al-Azhar allowing Muslim girls to not wear the hijab in French public schools, despite the existence of the French Council of Islam. The sheikh of al-Azhar provided the ruling, saying that while wearing the hijab is an "Islamic duty" the Muslim women of France are obligated to respect and follow French laws. The ruling drew much criticism within Egypt as compromising Islamic principles to convenience the French government, and in turn the Egyptian government.

 

Post 2011 revolution

Al-Azhar was not unaffected by the 2011 Egyptian revolution that saw the removal of Hosni Mubarak as president of Egypt. Student government elections in the months following the revolution resulted in an overwhelming victory for the once banned Muslim Brotherhood. Protests demanding that the military junta ruling Egypt restore the mosque's independence from the state broke out, and the mosque itself commissioned the writing of a draft law that would grant al-Azhar greater independence from the government. Within al-Azhar, debate on its future and rightful role within the state has replaced what had been a mollified single-voice in support of the policies of the Mubarak regime. The various views on al-Azhar's future role in Egypt come from several parties, including leading Islamist organizations such as the Muslim Brotherhood, liberal voices that wish to see al-Azhar stand as a bulwark against ultra-conservative Islamists (known as Salafists), and those that hope to see al-Azhar become wholly independent from the state and in complete control of its finances, leadership, and further that it be placed in charge of the religious ministries of the state.

 

In 2018 a major restoration of the mosque was completed, financed by both King Abdullah and King Salman of Saudi Arabia. Among the goals of the restoration was the reinforcement of the building's foundations, the restoration of its architectural elements, and upgrades to its infrastructure. The Bab al-Muzayinīn (Gate of the Barbers), formerly one of the main public entrances to the mosque, has been made less accessible as a result of the restoration project.

 

In 2020, representatives from the mosque spoke out against sexual violence in Egypt, prompted by the social media campaign instigated by student Nadeen Ashraf.

 

Architecture

Foundation and structural evolution under Fatimids

A large room filled with rows of cylindrical columns on top of square bases. The columns support arches which are pierced by square beams going the length of the room in both directions. Hanging from the beams are lamps, and the room's floor is covered with a red carpet with a repeated beige arched doorway shaped design on it. Exterior light enters from right of the room.

Hypostyle prayer hall with columns used from various periods in Egyptian history

The original structure of the mosque was 280 feet (85 m) in length and 227 feet (69 m) wide, and was made up of three arcades situated around a courtyard. To the southeast of the courtyard was the original prayer hall, built as a hypostyle hall, five aisles deep, though with its qibla wall slightly off the correct angle. The marble columns supporting the four arcades that made up the prayer hall were reused from sites extant at different times in Egyptian history, from Pharaonic times through Roman rule to Coptic dominance. The different heights of the columns were made level by using bases of varying thickness.[100] The stucco exterior shows influences from Abbasid, Coptic and Byzantine architecture.

 

Ultimately a total of three domes were built, a common trait among early north African mosques, although none of them have survived Al-Azhar's many renovations. The historian al-Maqrizi recorded that in the original dome al-Siqilli inscribed the following:

In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate; according to the command for its building from the servant of Allah, His governor abu Tamim Ma'ad, the Imam al-Mu‘izz li-Dīn Allāh, Amir al-Mu'minin, for whom and his illustrious forefathers and his sons may there be the blessings of Allah: By the hand of his servant Jawhar, the Secretary, the Ṣiqillī in the year 360.

 

Gawhar included the honorific Amir al-Mu'minin, Commander of the Faithful, as the Caliphs title and also included his nickname "the Secretary" which he had earned serving as a secretary prior to becoming a general.

 

K. A. C. Creswell wrote that the original structure certainly had one dome, and likely a second for symmetry. The original mihrab, uncovered in 1933, has a semi-dome above it with a marble column on either side. Intricate stucco decorations were a prominent feature of the mosque, with the mihrab and the walls ornately decorated. The mihrab had two sets of verses from the Quran inscribed in the conch, which is still intact. The first set of verses are the three that open al-Mu’minoon:

 

قَدْ أَفْلَحَ الْمُؤْمِنُونَ – الَّذِينَ هُمْ فِي صَلَاتِهِمْ خَاشِعُونَ – وَالَّذِينَ هُمْ عَنِ اللَّغْوِ مُعْرِضُونَ

Successful indeed are the believers – who are humble in their prayers – and who avoid vain talk

 

The next inscription is made up of verses 162 and 163 of al-An'am:

 

قُلْ إِنَّ صَلَاتِي وَنُسُكِي وَمَحْيَايَ وَمَمَاتِي لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ – لَا شَرِيكَ لَهُ وَبِذَلِكَ أُمِرْتُ وَأَنَا أَوَّلُ الْمُسْلِمِينَ

Say: Surely my prayer and my sacrifice and my life and my death are (all) for Allah, the Lord of the worlds – No associate has He; and this am I commanded, and I am the first of those who submit.

 

These inscriptions are the only surviving piece of decoration that has been definitively traced to the Fatimids.

 

Five keel shaped arches (and part of a sixth) are visible. The arches are supported by cylindrical columns. Above each arch is a large circular inscribed stucco decoration, and above each column is a large inscribed stucco decoration that mirrors the shape of arch and columns. Behind the row of columns is a walkway, and then a wall with entrances the shape and size of the arches and columns.

 

The marble paved central courtyard was added between 1009 and 1010. The arcades that surround the courtyard have keel shaped arches with stucco inscriptions. The arches were built during the reign of al-Hafiz li-Din Allah. The stucco ornaments also date to his rule and were redone in 1891. Two types of ornaments are used. The first appears above the center of the arch and consists of a sunken roundel and twenty-four lobes. A circular band of vegetal motifs was added in 1893. The second ornament used, which alternates with the first appearing in between each arch, consists of shallow niches below a fluted hood. The hood rests on engaged columns which are surrounded by band of Qu'ranic writing in Kufic script. The Qu'ranic script was added after the rule of al-Hafiz but during the Fatimid period. The walls are topped by a star shaped band with tiered triangular crenellations. The southeastern arcade of the courtyard contains the main entrance to the prayer hall. A Persian framing gate, in which the central arch of the arcade is further in with a higher rectangular pattern above it, opens into the prayer hall.

 

A new wooden door was installed during the reign of al-Hakim in 1009. In 1125, al-Amir installed a new wooden mihrab. An additional dome was constructed during the reign of al-Hafiz li-Din Allah. He additionally ordered the creation of a fourth arcade around the courtyard and had a porch built on the western end of the sahn.

 

Mamluk additions

An ornate carved stone minaret, with a carved stone railing around balconies at its center and near its top. The tip of the minaret is a large bulb-shaped stone decoration with a small bulb-shaped metal finial. Behind the minaret part of the top of a dome is visible.

 

The Fatimid dynasty was succeeded by the rule of Saladin and his Ayyubid dynasty. Initially appointed vizier by the last Fatimid Caliph Al-'Āḍid (who incorrectly thought he could be easily manipulated), Saladin consolidated power in Egypt, allying that country with the Sunni Abbasid Caliphate in Baghdad. Distrusting al-Azhar for its Shi'a history, the mosque lost prestige during his rule. However, the succeeding Mamluk dynasty made restorations and additions to the mosque, overseeing a rapid expansion of its educational programs. Among the restorations was a modification of the mihrab, with the installation of a polychrome marble facing.

 

Madrasa al-Taybarsiyya

The Madrasa al-Taybarsiyya, which contains the tomb of Amir Taybars, was built in 1309. Originally intended to function as a complementary mosque to al-Azhar it has since been integrated with the rest of the mosque. The Maliki and Shāfi‘ī madh'hab were studied in this madrasa, though it now is used to hold manuscripts from the library. The only surviving piece from the original is the qibla wall and its polychrome mihrab. Al-Maqrizi reported that the madrasa was used only for studying the Shāfi‘ī while the historian Ibn Duqmaq reported that one of the liwans in the madrasa was reserved for Shāfi‘ī teachings while the other was for Maliki teachings.

 

The madrasa was completely rebuilt by Abd al-Rahman Katkhuda, leaving only the southeastern wall and its mihrab untouched. The mihrab was described by K. A. C. Creswell as being "one of the finest in Cairo". The niche of the mihrab is 1.13 meters (3.7 ft) wide and 76 centimeters (30 in) deep. On each side of the niche stands a 2.78 meters (9.1 ft) high porphyry column. Above the columns are impost blocks decorated with colored geometrical designs. The semi-dome at the top of the mihrab is set within an outer arch. Surrounding this arch is a molding that forms a rectangular outer frame. This is the first mihrab in Egypt to have this type of frame. Inside the frame are glass mosaics depicting pomegranate trees.

 

Madrasa and mausoleum of Aqbugha

A dome and minaret cover the Madrasa al-Aqbughawiyya, which contains the tomb of Amir Aqbugha, which was built in 1339. Intended by its founder, another Mamluk amir called Sayf al-Din Aqbugha 'Abd al-Wahid, to be a stand-alone mosque and school, the madrasa has since become integrated with the rest of the mosque. It includes both a small tomb chamber and a larger hall, both with mihrabs. The entrance, qibla wall, and the mihrabs with glass mosaics are all original, while the pointed dome was rebuilt in the Ottoman period. Parts of the facade were remodeled by Khedive Tewfik in 1888. The top of the minaret was remodelled by Abd al-Rahman Katkhuda so as to have a pointed top like the other Ottoman-style minarets he built around the entrances of the mosque, but at some point after 1932 the top was once again refashioned to end with a Mamluk-style finial which we see today.

 

Madrasa Gawhariyya

Built in 1440, the Madrasa Gawhariyya contains the tomb of Gawhar al-Qanaqba'i, a Sudanese eunuch who became treasurer to the sultan. The floor of the madrasa is marble, the walls lined with cupboards, decoratively inlaid with ebony, ivory, and nacre. The tomb chamber is covered by small stone dome whose exterior is carved with an arabesque pattern, making it one for the earliest domes in Cairo with this type of decoration (later refined in the dome of Qaytay's mausoleum in the Northern Cemetery). The structure was restored between 1980 and 1982.

 

Minaret of Qaytbay

An ornate carved stone minaret, with a carved stone railing around three balconies, the first below its center, the second two thirds the way up, and the third near its top. The tip of the minaret is a large bulb-shaped stone decoration with a small bulb-shaped metal finial. Behind the minaret most of a dome is visible.

 

Built in 1483 or in 1495, it has a square base, a transitional segment leading into an octagonal shaft, then a 10-sided polygon shaft, followed by a cylindrical shaft that consists of 8 brick pillars, each two adjoined by bricks in between. The Minaret of Qaytbay also has three balconies, supported by muqarnas, a form of stalactite vaulting which provide a smooth transition from a flat surface to a curved one (first recorded to have been used in Egypt in 1085), that adorn the minaret. The first shaft is octagonal is decorated with keel-arched panels on each side, with a cluster of three columns separating each panel. Above this shaft is the second octagonal shaft which is separated from the first by a balcony and decorated with plaiting. A second balcony separates this shaft with the final cylindrical shaft, decorated with four arches. Above this is the third balcony, crowned by the finial top of the minaret.

 

The minaret is believed to have been built in the area of an earlier, Fatimid-era brick minaret that had itself been rebuilt several times. Contemporary accounts suggest that the Fatimid minaret had defects in its construction and needed to be rebuilt several times, including once under the direction of Sadr al-Din al-Adhra'i al-Dimashqi al-Hanafi, the qadi al-qudat (Chief Justice of the Highest Court) during the rule of Sultan Baibars. Recorded to have been rebuilt again under Barquq in 1397, the minaret began to lean at a dangerous angle and was rebuilt in 1414 by Taj al-Din al-Shawbaki, the walī and muhtasib of Cairo, and again in 1432. The Qaytbay minaret was built in its place as part of a reconstruction of the entrance to the mosque.

 

Gate of Qaytbay

Directly across the courtyard from the entrance from the Bab al-Muzayinīn is the Gate of Qaytbay. It is a refined example of the late Mamuk architectural and decorative style. Built in 1495, this gate leads to the court of the prayer hall.

 

Minaret of al-Ghuri

An ornate carved stone octagonal minaret, with a carved stone railing around balconies at its center and near its top. Above the second balcony the minaret splits into two rectangular shafts, each tipped by railing and a bulb-shaped finial.

 

The double finial minaret was built in 1509 by Qansuh al-Ghuri. Sitting on a square base, the first shaft is octagonal, and four sides have a decorative keel arch, separated from the adjacent sides with two columns. The second shaft, a 12-sided polygon separated from the first by fretted balconies supported by muqarnas, is decorated with blue faience. A balcony separates the third level from the second shaft. The third level is made up of two rectangular shafts with horseshoe arches on each side of both shafts. Atop each of these two shafts rests a finial atop two identical onion shaped bulbs, with a balcony separating the finials from the shafts.

 

Ottoman renovations and additions

Several additions and restorations were made during Ottoman reign in Egypt, many of which were completed under the direction of Abd al-Rahman Katkhuda who nearly doubled the size of the mosque. Three gates were added by Katkhuda, the Bab al-Muzayinīn (see below), which became the main entrance to the mosque, the Bab al-Shurba (the Soup Gate), and the Bab al-Sa'ayida (the Gate of the Sa'idis). To each gate he added a pointed Ottoman-style minaret, of which one was later demolished during the creation of al-Azhar Street. For the Bab al-Muzayinīn, which was adjacent to the Madrasa al-Aqbughiyya, he remodelled the top of Aqbugha's minaret to make it resemble the other Ottoman minarets (though the top was later rebuilt again in a Mamluk style during the 20th century). Several riwaqs were added, including one for the blind students of al-Azhar, as well as refurbished during the Ottoman period. Katkhuda also added an additional prayer hall south of the original Fatimid hall, with an additional mihrab, doubling the total prayer area. His overall work reintegrated the mosque's disparate elements in a relatively unified whole.

 

Bab al-Muzayinīn

Two large arches recessed into a wall are visible, with entrance-ways at their bottom. Above the arches the wall is ornately decorated with carvings and geometric designs. Parts of the decorations are colored red, blue and gold. The arches and decorations are surmounted and flanked by large, closely set rectangular blocks.

 

The Bab al-Muzayinīn ("Gate of the Barbers", Arabic: باب المزينين) was built in 1753. Credited to Katkhuda the gate has two doors, each surrounded by recessed arches. Two molded semi-circular arches with tympanums decorated with trefoils stand above the doors. Above the arches is a frieze with panels of cypress trees, a common trait of Ottoman work.

 

A free-standing minaret, built by Katkhuda, originally stood outside the gate. The minaret was demolished prior to the opening of al-Azhar street by Tewfik Pasha during modernization efforts which took place throughout Cairo.

 

Current layout and structure

A niche made of multiple types of decorative stone is embedded in a wall, facing a red carpeted area. The niche is flanked by stone columns, and surmounted by a stone arch. The wall at the back of the niche is a semi-circular curve, with a geometric design covering most of it. The wall beside the niche also has patterned stone on it. To the right is a dark wooden structure, a narrow staircase with a lattice door at the foot of it, and lattice railings leading to a seat topped by a square wooden canopy.

The present main entrance to the mosque is the Bab al-Muzayinīn, which opens into the white marble-paved courtyard at the opposite end of the main prayer hall. To the northeast of the Bab al-Muzayinīn, the courtyard is flanked by the façade of the Madrasa al-Aqbughawiyya; the southwestern end of the courtyard leads to the Madrasa al-Taybarsiyya. Directly across the courtyard from the entrance to the Bab al-Muzayinīn is the Bab al-Gindi (Gate of Qaytbay), built in 1495, above which stands the minaret of Qaytbay. Through this gate lies the courtyard of the prayer hall.

 

The mihrab has recently been changed to a plain marble facing with gold patterns, replacing some of the Mamluk marble facing, but the stucco carvings in the semi-dome are likely from the Fatimid era.

Destiny Muhammad @ AfroSolo Festival Jazz Concert - Yerba Buena Gardens Festival

 

Additional photos - www.pixelbarry.com/2012/08/destiny-muhammad-afrosolo-fest...

Photography by Bill Winters

www.billwinters.net

The Cave Hill Cemetery is the final resting place for some famous people. One being Muhammad Ali, born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr.; January 17, 1942 – June 3, 2016. He was an American professional boxer, nicknamed The Greatest. Ali is celebrated as one of the most sporting figures of the 20th century. Muhammad Ali is widely regarded as one of the greatest Heavyweight professional boxers of all time. Ali had 61 total fights, totaling 56 wins, 37 by KO and 5 losses.

Name: Banded woodpecker

Scientific: Chrysophlegma miniaceum

Malay: Belatuk Merah / Belatuk Merah Berjalur

Family: Picidae

IUCN Red List (v.3.1, 2016): Least concern

Gear: Sony RX10M4

 

#RX10M4 #shotbyharis

 

Copyright © 2020 Muhammad Haris Photography. All rights reserved. Do not use or reproduce these images on websites, blogs or publications without expressed written permission from the photographer.

 

Muhammad Waqas in Murree.

www.dverso.com

you can buy it on www.posterlounge.com/page.shop.search.php?action=search&a...

Titulo: Muhammad Ali

Interprete:Patricio Ignacio Valenzuela Muñoz

Creador:Patricio Ignacio Valenzuela Muñoz

Historia: Se nos fue gran gran ser humano, en honor a su partida, "Soy el más grande"

My young Nephew

Mazar-e-Quaid or the National Mausoleum refers to the tomb of the founder of Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah. It is an iconic symbol of Karachi throughout the world. The mausoleum is situated at the heart of the city, completed in 1960s. It is made of white marble with curved Moorish arches and copper grills rest on an elevated 54 square meters platform. The cool inner sanctum reflects the green of a four-tiered crystal chandelier gifted by the people of China. Around the mausoleum there is a park fitted with strong beamed spot-lights which at night project light on the white mausoleum. The location is usually calm and tranquil which is significant considering that it is in the heart of one of the largest global megalopolises. The glowing tomb can be seen for miles at night. Mazar-e-Quaid or the National Mausoleum refers to the tomb of the founder of Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah. It is an iconic symbol of Karachi throughout the world. The mausoleum is situated at the heart of the city, completed in 1960s. It is made of white marble with curved Moorish arches and copper grills rest on an elevated 54 square meters platform. The cool inner sanctum reflects the green of a four-tiered crystal chandelier gifted by the people of China. Around the mausoleum there is a park fitted with strong beamed spot-lights which at night project light on the white mausoleum. The location is usually calm and tranquil which is significant considering that it is in the heart of one of the largest global megalopolises. The glowing tomb can be seen for miles at night..

 

Special thanks to Ahmed (@ks) for his guidance and help in post processing of this photo.

   

Louisville, KY

July 2015

Continued from: flickr.com/photos/42093313@N00/51683698952/in/dateposted-...

 

40. Refer all matters to Allah and His Messenger, then defer

 

يٰۤـاَيُّهَا الَّذِيۡنَ اٰمَنُوۡۤا اَطِيۡـعُوا اللّٰهَ وَاَطِيۡـعُوا الرَّسُوۡلَ وَاُولِى الۡاَمۡرِ مِنۡكُمۡ

فَاِنۡ تَنَازَعۡتُمۡ فِىۡ شَىۡءٍ فَرُدُّوۡهُ اِلَى اللّٰهِ وَالرَّسُوۡلِ اِنۡ كُنۡـتُمۡ تُؤۡمِنُوۡنَ بِاللّٰهِ وَالۡيَـوۡمِ الۡاٰخِرِ ؕ

ذٰ لِكَ خَيۡرٌ وَّاَحۡسَنُ تَاۡوِيۡلًا‏

 

O you who believed!

Obey Allah and obey the Messenger and those who have been entrusted with authority among you.

Then if you disagree in anything, refer it to Allah and the Messenger, if you believe in Allah and the Last Day.

That is the best for you and the best determination.

Surah An-Nisa, Verse 59

 

I had to study the verse in the Tafseer e Jilani. Only Ghaus Pak (ra) would explain what it really meant; obeying!

 

Ya Ayyuhalladina Amino: By bringing faith, being counted among the Momineen, your duty becomes that you obey Allah and you obey His Messenger (peace be upon him).

 

Atiu’ Allah: You obey Allah by acting upon His Commands and avoiding what He has forbidden.

 

Wa Atiu’ Rasool: And you obey the Rasool (peace be upon him), the one He chose Himself as His Khalifa, Vice-regent, for he is the one who guides you towards His One-ness.

 

Wa: And also obey…

 

Ulil Amri Minkum: the ones who decide matters and they are those who establish the Sha’ir ul Islam, the Signs of Islam, amongst you. These people are the ones who are leaders, those who have authority and who are judges, who struggle in the application of orders and finding a solution.

 

I asked Qari Sahib what it means to establish Sha’ir ul Islam – the Signs of Islam. He referred me to the next part of the verse;

 

Fa in Tanaaza’tum: So if there happens to be a dispute between you and the ulil amr, those who have authority over you…

 

Fi Shayin: in a matter of whether something is according to the Shari’a, Islamic Law, or not…

 

Fa rudduhu; return the matter to and turn yourself towards…

 

Ila: Allah’s Book…

 

Allah Wa: and the hadith

 

Ar-Rasool: and present the matter before both of them and find a solution from both of them…

 

In kuntu tu’mino billahi: if you believe in Allah, the One who gives the reward to His Servants for their deeds, be they good or bad…

 

Wal Yaumil Akhira: and you believe in the Last Day, which is the Day prepared for reward or punishment.

 

Dalika: This returning of the matter…

 

Khairun: is better for you than the injustice you will arrive at from your own reflection…

 

Wa ahsanu taweela: and will yield the best result for you, better than the result you arrive at on your own and will be more deserving of praise for the conclusion of the matter than your unfairness.

 

Sheikh Nurjan:

 

“As soon as you say, “ati`oollah, obey Allah,” it has a power and a secret. There are 500 ma’moorat, obligations, that Allah ordered us to fulfill, and 800 manhiyyaat, things which are forbidden, that we must leave. How can one count and follow 500 orders and leave 800 forbidden actions?

 

If you repeat that word alone, “ati`ullah, ati`ullah, ati`ullah,” reminding yourself with it, then Allah Subhan Ta’ala will completely dress you as if you have fulfilled all 500 obligations and left the 800 forbiddens. Allahu Akbar! Then you continue with, “ati`ur-Rasool, obey the Prophet,” and with Allah’s order, Prophet (peace be upon him) will dress you with all his Sunnah, voluntary actions, and in the meaning of Khaatam ar-Rasool, “Seal of Prophets,” as if you have obeyed him from beginning to end!

 

As Grandshaykh and Mawlana Shaykh Nazim said, with every letter of the Holy Qur’an, even if it is repeated hundreds or thousands of times, Allah opens 24,000 oceans of knowledge to His Auliya (the Ulul Amr), which they keep hidden. They give to their followers little by little, as if from a dropper. They give a little bit to the hearts of their listeners and continue to upload that until one day Allah will give permission to fully open it to the hearts of their disciples.

 

The goal is to reach Allah’s Pleasure and enter into the Divinely Presence and it enters within us. It is to make the house and heart of the believer the House of Allah so that His Light and His Grace can emanate from such a heart. That is why in the Quran Allah describes the Ka’ba as ‘wash your heart, clean your heart, circumambulate your heart, which is My House, the Ka’ba.’ That’s why we call Auliya Allah, the Friends of God, Qiblas (directions) and Ka’ba. Their hearts are like the Ka’ba which direct people towards the Divinely Presence. And they are a Qibla in that they give a direction and focus in life.

 

Allah knows we are weak and if we were given a thousand lives, we won’t be able to achieve that without this system Allah has put in place. People may have beliefs and love but to enter into that Divinely Light, Allah has a system to reach the Haqaiq, the Realities of ‘La ilaha Illallah.’

 

So then Allah says ‘ati’ur Rasool’ He is telling us ‘I know you can’t follow Me because that’s the Station of the Messengers. So follow the way and the love of your Beloved Messenger (peace be upon him) who is beloved by Allah and most praised within all of Creation, Sayadna Muhammadan Rasool Ullah (peace be upon him).

 

So then comes the third piece, Ulil Amr, because the Auliya Allah begin to describe that if our goal was to make our house a Ka’ba, the only one who can bring the law and discipline of Allah, the deen (religion) of Allah, the Message of Allah is Muhammadun Rasool Ullah (peace be upon him). The spiritual paths are the schools of guidance.

 

For in the Quran Allah says, ‘there is no guidance except if Allah guides’ and that has many degrees of guidance; something basic, something middle, something high and something very high. There are darajaats, spiritual ranks, of guidance and realities of guidance. The highest rank is Maqam Al Mahmood, the highest heaven is Jannat al Firdaus. These are all in fact existent within the reality and the heart of Sayaddna Muhammad (peace be upon him).

 

So the Auliya Allah, their whole teachings are about only him, Muhammad Ar Rasool Allah (peace be upon him). Through that the heart can be perfected. Allah says in the Quran that the Prophet (peace be upon him) is a guidance. He brings the message, he purifies the believers. He brings lights and blessings into the hearts of the believers. So how does Allah say that? He says if you want to reach Me, following the Prophet (peace be upon him) and I will love you. My Divine Love will emanate from your heart. ”

 

قُلْ إِن كُنتُمْ تُحِبُّونَ اللَّهَ فَاتَّبِعُونِي يُحْبِبْكُمُ اللَّهُ

وَيَغْفِرْ لَكُمْ ذُنُوبَكُمْ ۗ وَاللَّهُ غَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ

 

Say (O Prophet (peace be upon you)), "If you love God, follow me and God will love you and forgive you your sins for God is Much-Forgiving, a Dispenser of Grace."

Surah Al e Imran, Verse 31

 

You can live a thousand years and a thousand lifetimes and you cannot achieve this without this system. Because Allah is saying come to Me through him. So the perfect line of Tauheed – La ilaha illallah Muhammad ar Rasoolallah – Allah is saying if you want to reach my La ilaha illallah, (Tauheed, My One-ness), come to me through Muhammad ar Rasoolallah. You cannot just say La ilaha illallah. Without Muhammad ar Rasoolallah, you are outside the belief system.”

 

Hazrat Khawaja Moinuddin Chisti Ajmeri (ra) said the same in a different way:

 

If the one who does not believe utters (the words) La Ilaha Illallah, There is no God but God, for a 100 years , he will never attain faith. But if once he says, Muhammad Ar-Rasool Allah, Muhammad (peace be upon him) is His Messenger, he removes from himself a 100 years of apostasy.

 

“So the Ulil Amr are dressed and blessed by Allah to open a door on this Earth and the door must have a tongue in which it teaches, trains and guides, everything based on Muhammad Ar Rasoolallah (peace be upon him).

 

So be wary, when you enter a door and they talk a lot about Allah. Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah, that is not the right door. That is not the right room. For all doors in the Universe, above it is only Muhammad Ar Rasoolallah (peace be upon him). So the Ulil Amr should be talking about him so you can try to reach him for he is who is above them. The one who doesn’t talk about him and cuts him out, only talking about Allah, that’s Hizb ul Shaitaan, the party of Iblis. He is the one who says, ‘I don’t accept any of these Adams, only Allah.

 

So that’s how the student should know; if I enter into a room on the Ulil Amr, their whole existence pivots, like moons, around one sun; the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). The moon is guidance. It gives you your time, your coordinates, it nourishes you and raises you. Read the Farmer’s Almanac on what a moon is. The Shams ul Arifeen, the Sun of the Gnostics, is Muhammad Ar Rasoolullah (peace be upon him). It is his light upon them, upon the moons, that makes everything guided and beatific and ripened and sweet.”

 

Subhan Allah!

 

“The room we want to enter is the room that teaches all the realities of the beatific nature of Rasool Allah (peace be upon him) and his creation. Everything they say is about his reality and the realities of his essence – The Muhammadan Reality. So the door to that reality, how will you find it? By picking up a book? No! These people are the Ulil Amri minkum.’

 

Now understand the levels of Ulil Amr. A president is Ulil Amr. Allah has given him that authority. Even if he’s an oppressor, Allah gave him the authority. It doesn’t matter what they believe or not. There are duniya Ulil Amr, who have authority of the matters related to the world. Then there are people who give guidance within religions like the clergy.

 

But the Ulil Amr minkum that Allah is describing are of a different nature and reality. They understand the alif-meem-ra of the word Amr. They are dressed by the Alif which makes them have Izzatullah (Honour of Allah), they’re dressed with the realities of the Meem which is Izzat ur Rusool (the honour of the Messenger (peace be upon him)), the might and majestry and authority of his person and Izzat ul Mo’mineen (the honor of the believers). It is by virtue of these three realities that power is bestowed upon this Earth.

 

The Ulil Amr represent the Honour of Allah on this Earth, they represent the honour of the Rasool (peace be upon him) and they are the Auliya Allah. The authority granted to them does not require speech. It is not from this world but from the World of the Unseen. The Ulil Amr are a door upon this Earth. Our life is to find that door.

 

The Spiritual Masters who can teach that reality, speak to it, they are from that door. They’re from the Ulil Amr. As a result, the doors that are established on this Earth at all time, for all time, Allah will keep guidance on this Earth through them for the sake of the nation of Sayyadna Muhammad (peace be upon him). Some of them have been given blessings but not guidance.

 

Those who have been given guidance are inheritors of the 313 Messengers of Allah. They have been given a support from Allah through their ears, and their eyes, and their breath and their hands and their feet and their Lisaan as Sadeeq – a truthful tongue.

 

41. Who are the Faithful – The Momineen? The Truthful

 

وَٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ بِٱللَّهِ وَرُسُلِهِۦٓ أُو۟لَـٰٓئِكَ هُمُ ٱلصِّدِّيقُونَ ۖ

وَٱلشُّهَدَآءُ عِندَ رَبِّهِمْ لَهُمْ أَجْرُهُمْ وَنُورُهُمْ ۖ

 

˹As for˺ those who believe in Allah and His messengers, it is they who are ˹truly˺ the people of truth. And the ones who witness, with their Lord, will have their reward and their light.

Surah Al-Hadeed, Verse 19

 

Tafseer e Jilani:

 

Alladina a’mano billahi wa rasooli hi: Those who are sincere (akhlasu) in their faith and then attested that sincerity by goodness in their deeds and their ehsaan, which is humility in the presence of Allah…

 

O’laika: these are the lucky ones who are accepted (by God).

 

Humuss siddeeqoon: They are the truthful one, who have reached the highest ranks of truth and have restricted themselves upon sincerity, steadfast and still in the Way of truthful certainty.

 

Wa Shuhuda: They are the ones who unveil, the ones who witness and the ones who are present…

 

I’nda Rabbihim: near their Lord, seeking further submergence in Him through their desire for a prolonging of that meeting.

 

Lahum: For them is in the next life…

 

Ajarhum wa nooruhum: is their reward and their light promised to them from Allah for they don’t want anything other than that.

 

Qari Sahib asked me, “Why are they getting two things, ajr and noor?”

 

As usual I was dumb because as usual I had no idea.

 

The Ajr, reward, is for their deeds and the noor is for their ikhlaas, sincerity. Then there’s a second layering to it; the reward, ajr, is for the faith in Allah, imaan. The noor is for following the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). See the reference:

 

‏يَٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ ٱتَّقُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ وَءَامِنُوا۟ بِرَسُولِهِۦ

يُؤْتِكُمْ كِفْلَيْنِ مِن رَّحْمَتِهِۦ

وَيَجْعَل لَّكُمْ نُورًۭا تَمْشُونَ بِهِۦ

وَيَغْفِرْ لَكُمْ ۚ

وَٱللَّهُ غَفُورٌۭ رَّحِيمٌۭ

 

O you who believe! Be mindful of Allah and believe in His Messenger;

He will give you double portion of His Mercy

and He will make for you a light,

you will walk with it,

and He will forgive you.

And Allah (is) Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.

Surah Al-Hadeed, Verse 28

  

42. The Healing of the Heart

 

‏يَٓأَيُّهَا ٱلنَّاسُ قَدْ جَآءَتْكُم مَّوْعِظَةٌۭ مِّن رَّبِّكُمْ وَشِفَآءٌۭ لِّمَا فِى ٱلصُّدُورِ وَهُدًۭى وَرَحْمَةٌۭ لِّلْمُؤْمِنِينَ ‎

 

O Mankind! Verily has come to you an instruction from your Lord,

and a healing for what is in your breasts,

and guidance

and mercy

for the believers.

Surah Yunus, Verse 57

 

Tafseer e Jilani:

 

Ya Ayyun naas: O Mankind, those who have forgotten their original purpose and their true abode…

 

Qad Ja’atkum: indeed has come to you (a Prophet (peace be upon him) and The Book, 5/15) to awaken you and warn you…

 

Muazzatun: as an admonishment and to remind you…

 

Mir Rabbikum wa shifa ullima fi sudoor: from your Lord. And heal you from your anger and grudges that have taken firm residence in your hearts.

 

Wa hudan: And they will guide you to those who are in the know (about Allah) and bring you before Him.

 

Wa rahmatun: and they are the mercy in abundance which encompasses everything…

 

Lil Momineen: for those who are virtuous and conscious of Allah.

 

43. Allah’s Bounty; the Prophet (peace be upon him) and the Quran

 

‏قُلْ بِفَضْلِ ٱللَّهِ وَبِرَحْمَتِهِۦ فَبِذَلِكَ فَلْيَفْرَحُوا۟ هُوَ خَيْرٌۭ مِّمَّا يَجْمَعُونَ ‎

 

Say O Prophet (peace be upon him), "In (this) is the Bounty of Allah and His Mercy so in that let them rejoice."

It is far better than what they accumulate.

Surah Yunus, Verse 10

 

Tafseer e Jilani:

 

Qul: O Messenger (peace be upon him) who completes the Message, say to the one who follows you reminding them and guiding them,

 

Bi fadlillah hi: with Allah’s Bounty and His Best Acceptance and with His endowing of Honour and His Presence…

 

Wa bi rahmatihi: and by His Mercy, which is expansive for everyone and which is for all His Reflections in the Universe, “They should try to attain the blessings (of them both, the person of the Prophet (peace be upon him) and the Quran) and unveil them.

 

Fa bi dalika: By the delight they will receive from them both, they will attain presence before Allah.

 

Fal yafrahu: So let them rejoice, instead of being of those who do not experience this happiness and do not experience this joy because they prioritize the few moments of their physical, yet perishable desires.

 

Huwa: Your spiritual joy and happiness…

 

Khairun Mimma Yajma’oon: is far better than the lusts of your nafs, your base self, and what it demands from your being, if you are of the sincere and those who possess certainty.

 

44. What is Steadfastness?

 

‏إِنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ قَالُوا۟ رَبُّنَا ٱللَّهُ ثُمَّ ٱسْتَقَمُوا۟

 

Indeed, those who say, "Our Lord, (is) Allah," then stand firm.

Surah Fussilat, Verse 30

 

Tafseer e Jilani:

 

Innalladina : The ones who believe in One-ness…

 

Qalu: they say in happiness and in difficulty, in secrecy and openly…

 

Rabbuna Allah: Our Lord is Allah, The One who is One, by Himself, Alone, beyond need who is lam yalid wa lam yulad…

 

Summastaqamu: the ones who then have to prove what they have claimed. And they acknowledge, realize and confess that (claim) through their deeds as well and their states and their intentions in their daily, ordinary actions.  

 

45. All happiness and pain comes from Allah

 

مَآ أَصَابَ مِن مُّصِيبَةٍ إِلَّا بِإِذْنِ ٱللَّهِ ۗ

وَمَن يُؤْمِنۢ بِٱللَّهِ يَهْدِ قَلْبَهُۥ ۚ

وَٱللَّهُ بِكُلِّ شَىْءٍ عَلِيمٌ

 

No calamity befalls anyone except by Allah’s Will.

And whoever has faith in Allah, He will rightly guide their hearts.

And Allah has ˹perfect˺ knowledge of all things.

Surah At-Taghabun, Verse 11

 

Tafseer e Jilani:

 

Then He said Subhan Ta’ala, to make us steadfast and firm footed for the ones who possess ma’rifat and iqaan, certainty, on the station of entrusting and reliance.

 

Ma asaba: That which comes upon one and what it entails…

 

Min museebati: i.e. whether it is an incidence of happiness that reaches you or of pain…

 

Illa bi idnallah: it doesn’t happen except with Allah’s Permission according to His Order.

 

Wa mayyomin Billahi: And the one who believes in Allah and entrusts his matters to Him and makes Him his Disposer of Affairs and makes Him Sufficient and His Protector…

 

Yahdi qalba hu: He will give guidance to and enlighten his heart and He will show him the Kingdom of Tauheed, One-ness and the symbols of certainty.

 

Wa: and overall

 

Allahu: The One who is fully Aware of what is hidden and what is present…

 

Bi kulli shayan: all that which is under His Control…

 

Aleem un: because His Knowledge is forever present and nothing can be hidden from Him.

 

46. The Door of Truth

 

وَقُل رَّبِّ أَدْخِلْنِى مُدْخَلَ صِدْقٍۢ

وَأَخْرِجْنِى مُخْرَجَ صِدْقٍۢ

وَٱجْعَل لِّى مِن لَّدُنكَ سُلْطَـٰنًۭا نَّصِيرًۭا

 

And say (in your prayer O Beloved), “O my Sustainer!

Cause me to enter (in whatever I do) in a manner, true and sincere,

and cause me to leave it in a manner true and sincere.

And grant me of from Your Presence, a sustaining support.

Surah Al-Isra’, Verse 80

 

Tafseer e Jilani:

 

“O my Lord, enter me into the place of being settled, which is the place of Tauheed where everything else vanishes. And place me forever in it without doubt and change within me.

 

And take me out of the demands of egoism and selfish desires towards dissolution in You, that enjoins me to the Honor of Your Eternity, with a meeting to a place without jolts and slippage, all the while when I am embattling my ego and my nafs Ammara is trying to control me, with that which silences them once and for all and never turns me towards them but towards an appearance before You, that helps me against my enemies and rescues me when they attack me.”

 

There is Doer except Allah

 

لا فاعل في الحقيقة و لا مؤثر الا الله

 

There is no doer except Allah and there is no effect except that which is caused by Allah.

Ghaus Pak (ra)

  

47. The Ones given knowledge

 

‏بَلْ هُوَ ءَايَتٌۢ بَيِّنَتٌۭ فِى صُدُورِ ٱلَّذِينَ أُوتُوا۟ ٱلْعِلْمَ ۚ

 

Nay, it is the verses clear in the breasts of those who are given the knowledge.

Surah Al Ankaboot, Verse 49

 

Tafseer e Jilani:

 

Bal huwa: The Quran in its essence…

 

Ayatun: has signs and proofs which prove the One-ness of Allah…

 

Bayyinatun: which are so clear that no other evidence, is needed, firm…

 

Fi Sudoor: in the hearts of the ones who are believers of One-ness…

 

Alladina utol ilm: and have been granted Knowledge from Him, which emanates directly from the Knowledge of Allah, and is received by them from His Divine Treasures according to their capacity and ability due to His Bounty and His Favour upon them.

 

Are you an Enemy or a Friend?

 

Hazrat Najmuddin Kubra (ra) says in the Tafseer e Jilani;

 

“When Allah sends a trial or a difficulty, He is testing to see who is an enemy and who is a friend.

 

The one who is a friend and close to Him, in their state of pain, returns to Allah with sighs and remembrance. They rely only upon Him, holding on to the rope of patience and surrender and seeking his Pleasure and firmly holds onto the Support of Allah.

 

Whereas the enemy of God, in the time of difficulty becames impatient and impulsive. They become ungrateful of His Blessings, impatient and do not surrender to the Destiny of His Lord. Then they turn their face away from Allah and start running to people.”

 

48. I am a man like you except...

 

‏قُلْ إِنَّمَآ أَنَا۠ بَشَرٌۭ مِّثْلُكُمْ يُوحَىٰٓ إِلَىَّ

 

Say O Last Messenger (peace be upon you),

“I am only a man like you, to who has been revealed that your God is one God.”

Surah Al-Kahf, Verse 110

 

Tafseer e Jilani:

 

Qul: O Messenger who completes The Message (peace be upon you), after you have conveyed to them, the Words of Allah, endless, Words which are devoid of trying to show-off and to impress which leads to arrogance. These Words are only for wisdom and intellect.

 

Qari Sahib; Allah never says about him that he is a man. He makes him say it, not Himself; You say it! For it is wisdom and for the intellect.

 

Inna ana basharum mislukum: No doubt, I am a man in appearance like you, accepting of certain knowledge and knowing according to Mankind. There is no difference between me and you in terms of human nature. But there is one difference…

 

Youha illaya: Revelation comes upon me and pours upon me Ilm ul Yaqeen, Ayn ul Yaqeen and Haq ul Yaqeen (Knowledge of the Divine, Witnessing of the Divine and the Truth of the Divine).

 

Qari Sahib; This word yufadu – pouring - reminds me of the hadith when Nabi Kareem (peace be upon you) was praying and he was seeing the grapes of Heaven while he was praying – Ayn ul Yaqeen. He reached his hand upwards as if to break off a bunch – Haq ul Yaqeen.

 

عَنْ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ بْنِ عَبَّاسٍ رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُمَا ،

قَالَ : خَسَفَتِ الشَّمْسُ عَلَى عَهْدِ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ فَصَلَّى ،

قَالُوا : يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ رَأَيْنَاكَ تَنَاوَلْتَ شَيْئًا فِي مَقَامِكَ ، ثُمَّ رَأَيْنَاكَ تَكَعْكَعْتَ ،

قَالَ : إِنِّي أُرِيتُ الْجَنَّةَ ، فَتَنَاوَلْتُ مِنْهَا عُنْقُودًا ، وَلَوْ أَخَذْتُهُ لَأَكَلْتُمْ مِنْهُ مَا بَقِيَتِ الدُّنْيَا .

 

Narrated by Hazrat `Abdullah bin `Abbas (ratu):

 

Once a solar eclipse occurred during the time of Allah's Apostle (peace be upon him).

 

He offered the eclipse prayer.

 

His companions asked, O Allah's Apostle! We saw you trying to take something while standing at your place and then we saw you retreating.

 

The Prophet answered, “I was shown Paradise and wanted to have a bunch of fruit from it. Had I taken it, you would have eaten from it as long as the world remains.”

 

49. How to receive honour

 

مَن كَانَ يُرِيدُ ٱلْعِزَّةَ فَلِلَّهِ ٱلْعِزَّةُ جَمِيعًاۚ إِلَيْهِ يَصْعَدُ ٱلْكَلِمُ ٱلطَّيِّبُ وَٱلْعَمَلُ ٱلصَّلِحُ يَرْفَعُهُۚۥ

 

Whoever for him desires the honor, then for Allah is the Honor all.

To Him ascends the good words, and righteous deeds raises it.

Surah Fatir, Verse 10

 

Tafseer e Jilani:

 

Man kana yureed ul izzata: The one who wants honour, endless, after which never comes humiliation ever, then he should turn towards Allah and makes his focus His One-ness.

 

Fa lillahe izzatu: For only Allah is the True Owner of Honour, which includes control, eternal majesty and all kingdoms…

 

Jami-an: overt (zahiri) and inner (batini). And the one who desires that Allah bestow upon him honour and control and absolute kingdoms and abundance that remains forever, then he should, in his initial stages toward Allah, praise Him by way of His Perfect Names and Exalted Attributes till his remembrance reaches the stages of their reflection in him.

 

This (the reflection) is the last effort and then he becomes a reflector of Allah’s Being, wanting to unveil the Veils of His Omnipotence, till he becomes present before Him, able to unveil Him and witness the Signs of His Names and Attributes on the surface of the Universe without the distortion created by others. 

 

And overall (in summary), the one who seeks honour should be occupied in the Remembrance by Allah in the early stages because

 

Ilayhi yasadu alkalm at tayyabu: towards Him ascend good words which are the Prefect Names of Allah and His Exalted Attributes, increasing in frequency from the tongues of The Sincere and The Ones who Reflect in Allah’s Blessings and His Bounty…

 

Wal al amal as saleh: and (they should be occupied) in good deeds enjoined with ikhlas, sincerity and tabbatul, devotion to Him (also ascending towards Him)…

 

Yarfa’uhu: (which will be why) He then raises that deed founded upon sincerity and those good words allowing them to reach towards the stages of Closeness with Allah. So for the one whose sincerity in his deed is perfect, then the ranks of his words which are raised towards Allah Subhanahu are the highest and the most supreme to Him.

 

50. The Prayer of Tahajjud

 

‏وَمِنَ ٱلَّيْلِ فَتَهَجَّدْ بِهِۦ نَافِلَةًۭ لَّكَ

 

And rise from your sleep and pray during the part of the night and extra voluntary prayer,

it may be well that your Lord will raise you (to) a station praiseworthy.

Surah Al Isra’, Verse 79

 

Tafseer e Jilani:

 

Wa: And if you want even more closeness (to Allah) and blessings, then awaken your heart and body, in the last part…

 

Min al layli: of the night and leave sleep out of desire for the Pleasure of Allah…

 

Fatahajjad bihi: and pray the Prayer of Tahajjud, prolonging your recitation in it so it becomes…

 

Nafilatan: extra…

 

Laka: than the dutied prayers for you. It will increase your Closeness and your honour (before your Lord).

 

51. Seek help through prayer and patience

 

‏وَٱسْتَعِينُوا۟ بِٱلصَّبْرِ وَٱلصَّلَوٰةِ ۚ وَإِنَّهَا لَكَبِيرَةٌ إِلَّا عَلَى ٱلْخَشِعِينَ

 

And seek help through patience and the prayer.

And indeed it is surely difficult, except for those who are humble.

Surah Al Baqarah, Verse 45

 

Tafseer e Jilani:

 

Wa: And so Allah commands to ask for help through them both (prayer and patience)…

 

Asta’ino: with (tawajju) focus upon Him and (taqarrab) achieving nearness to Him…

 

Bis sabr: with control of that which creates lust in the body and that which causes attraction to the world…

 

Wa salat: and instead incline yourself towards the focus and the nearness and turn away from everything except Allah. Don’t ignore this Command and don’t take it lightly.

 

Wa innaha la kabeera: Indeed this (turning towards Allah) is heavy and burdensome upon everyone…

 

Illa ala al-Khashiyeen: except the ones whose hearts are in prostration.

 

52. Who are the Khashiyeen? – The ones whose hearts are in prostration

 

‏ٱلَّذِينَ يَظُنُّونَ أَنَّهُم مُّلَقُوا۟ رَبِّهِمْ وَأَنَّهُمْ إِلَيْهِ رَجِعُونَ ‎

 

(They are) the ones who believe they will meet their Lord and that they will return to Him.

Surah Al Baqarah, Verse 46

 

Tafseer e Jilani:

 

Alladeena: They (the Kashiyeen) are the ones who lift the grime of other-ness (from Allah) from the eye (of the heart). And drop the blemish of duality to attain clarity.

 

Yadunoona annahum mulaqu Rabbihim: They believe in the meeting with their Lord in this life because they worship him as if they see Him.

 

Wa: And they know with certainty…

 

Annahum ilayhi: they will, without doubt, towards Him and no one except Him, because there is no one in existence except Him…

 

Raji’oon: return, making their abode in the Hereafter.

 

Then he (Ghaus Pak (ra)) prays: Please Dear Lord, Make us of the one who follow these people and love these people - (who possess certainty of their return to You and worship You as if they see You and make their abode the Hereafter).

 

53. Man is created Weak

 

‏يُرِيدُ ٱللَّهُ أَن يُخَفِّفَ عَنكُمْ ۚ وَخُلِقَ ٱلْإِنسَنُ ضَعِيفًۭا

 

Allah wishes to lighten your burdens because Man has been created weak.

Surah An-Nisa, Verse 28

 

Tafseer e Jilani:

 

Yureed Allah u: Allah wishes, as The One who manages your affairs,…

 

Ayyukhaffifa ankum: that He makes it light for you, the ones who are believers – the Momineen - the burdens you carry. For these (burdens) are the reasons for your needs and your state of being dependent on the world.

 

Wa: And the condition is that…

 

Khuliq al Insaan: Man is created, in his original nature…

 

Daeefan: weak. He cannot carry the burden of being needful of the world, just like other animals.

 

Then Ghaus Pak (ra) prays: Dear Lord, Make light for us the weight of our sins by Your Bounty and remove from us the evilness of evils by virtue of Your Generosity and grant us the life of the ones that were devoted to You.

 

54. Man was created in hardship

 

‏لَقَدْ خَلَقْنَا ٱلْإِنسَنَ فِى كَبَدٍ ‎

 

Certainly, we have created Man to be in hardship.

Surah Al Balad, Verse 4

 

Tafseer e Jilani:

 

And overall, Allah takes oaths upon so many things (Verses 1-3) because

 

Laqad khalaqnal insaana: Surely, We created Man and revealed his life in this world, to be buried…

 

Fi kabad: in extensive exhaustion and toil, which makes busy his entire external physical being as well as his internal organs so much that (that life) envelops all his internal and external parts. This is caused by the needs of his livelihood and its means.

 

Thus he becomes distracted from Allah and because of those needs, he leaves the affairs of his return to Him. Then begins the gathering of money and the collection of fuel and sins which make him distant from Al Hakeen Al Allaam, The Wise and All Knowing Lord.

 

So he becomes so intensely busy with this world, forgetting the Afterlife and his feet slip from the Path of His Lord.

 

55-57: Time

 

‏وَٱلْعَصْرِ

‏إِنَّ ٱلْإِنسَنَ لَفِى خُسْرٍ ‎

‏إِلَّا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ وَعَمِلُوا۟ ٱلصَّلِحَتِ وَتَوَاصَوْا۟ بِٱلْحَقِّ وَتَوَاصَوْا۟ بِٱلصَّبْرِ ‎

 

The human being is surely in a state of loss

Except those who believe and do righteous deeds and enjoin (each other) to the truth and enjoin (each other) to [the] patience.

Surah Al-Asr, Verses 1-3

 

Wal Asr: Then Allah Suban Ta’ala takes an oath upon time and the ages, the meaning of which is about the Eternal Essence of Allah, from the beginning till the end, timeless and everlasting.

 

Innal Insaana: Indeed, the human being, created such to have a natural propensity towards the nature of ma’rifa, the Recognition of God and imaan, faith according to the his share of the Lahoot, the Realm of the Divine where there is no time and space…

 

Lafe khusr: is in a state of loss, immense and humiliating failure, as a result of their busyiness in that which is useless due to the requirements (and needs) of his physical being, as related to his share of the world of Nasoot, the life in this world.

 

Illa: Except the Muqinoon, those who possess inner certainty…

Alladina Aamami: about the One-ness of Allah Subhan Ta’ala and are conscious, through their steadfastness, in their behaviour continuously in His Kingdom and about His Authority.

 

Wa: And with this faith and certainty…

 

Amilos Sualihaat: they do good deeds which points towards their ikhas, sincerity and their yaqeen, absolute conviction, and niyyat, intention.

 

Wa: And in this condition…

 

Tawasau bil Haq: they enjoin each other towards the Path of God and His One-ness…

 

Wa tawasau: and they also enjoin each other…

 

Bis sabr: towards patience for the practice of matters that require obedience and (patience towards) their tiredness from striving hard and (patience towards) from what they suffer as a result of cutting themselves off from their love of the world and (patience towards) leaving their animalistic desires which are attached to human nature.

 

Then Ghaus Pak (ra) prays: May Allah grant us the ability to be rid of and cut off (from these desires).

  

58. And you (O Beloved (peace be upon you)) indeed, possess the Best of Manners

 

‏وَإِنَّكَ لَعَلَىٰ خُلُقٍ عَظِيمٍۢ ‎

 

And truly you possess the most outstanding manners.

Surah Al Qalm, Verse 4

 

Tafseer e Jilani:

 

Wa Innaka: Indeed you, O beloved (peace be upon you), who are the personification of the most perfected adoption of Allah’s Akhlaq, Etiquette and Attributes, and proved to be the most truthful and steadfast in fulfilling your friendship with Allah and in being the most exemplary Vice-regent,…

 

La’ala khuliqin azeem: possess the most excellent of manners. No one’s akhlaq, behavior, is better than yours because you have gathered and brought together the etiquettes of all the ones before and all the ones after, in line with the ranks you were granted, which are the most exalted (of anyone in existence).

 

Ikhlas

 

الإخلاص سر من سري استودعته قلب من أحببت من عبادي

 

And Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said that Allah Ta’ala said:

 

“Ikhlas, sincerity, is a secret from My Secrets

and I place it in the heart of my servant who is my beloved.”

 

Ikhlas (sincerity) of intention, action and then perseverance on it is the highest station of love and servitude to God. Ikhlas is defined and explained as:

 

• The honourable `arif and the wise wayfarer, Khwajah `Abd Allah al Ansari (qs) says: “Ikhlas means purging action of all impurities.” And the ‘impurities’ mean desire to please oneself and other creatures.

 

• The great scholar Shaykh al-Baha'i (ra) has narrated that the people of the heart (those who love Allah by heart) say that: "Ikhlas means keeping action free from other than God having a role in it and that the performer of an action should not desire any reward for it in the world and the Hereafter."

 

Ikhlas is subsequent to action

 

One must exercise vigilance as it some¬times happens that man carries out an action faultlessly without any shortcoming and performs it without riya' (showing off) or `ujb (self-love) but after the action he becomes afflicted with riya' through mentioning it to others, as pointed out in the following noble hadith:

 

• Imam al Baqir (a) said: "Perseverance in an action is more difficult than the act itself."

 

He was asked, "What is meant by perseverance in action?"

 

He (a) replied, "A man does some kindness to a relative or expends something for the sake of God, Who is One and has no partner. Thereupon the reward of a good deed performed secretly is written for him.

 

Later, he mentions it to someone and that which was written earlier is wiped out and instead the reward of a good deed performed openly is written for him. Later, when he makes a mention of it again, the vice of riya' (showing off) is written for him (instead of the reward written earlier)."

 

The Reality of Action is Intention

 

• It is the sincere intention and pure purpose on which depend the perfection or defectiveness of 'ibadat (worships) and thus their validity or invalidity. Spiritual traits constitute the soul's primary character and intentions, to which actions are subservient, making up its secondary character. And as long as self love remains in the heart and a person remains in the oppressive habitat of the self, he is not a wayfarer toward God (musafir ila Allah); rather, he is one of those who cling to the earth (mukhalladun ila al 'ard).

 

Shirk in `ibadah' that encompasses all its levels is the inclusion of the good pleasure and satisfaction of anyone other than God, whether it is one's own self or someone else. If it is for someone else's satisfaction and for people, it is outward shirk and fiqhi riya'.

 

If it is for one's own satisfaction (rida), it is hidden and inward shirk. In view of the `urafa' (gnostics) this also invalidates the 'ibadah and makes it unacceptable to God. Examples of it are offering the nightly prayer (tahajjud) for increase in one's livelihood, or giving zakat for increase in one's wealth;

 

Although those 'ibadat are valid, and one who performs them is considered to have performed his duty and fulfilled the require¬ments of the shari'ah, they do not amount to the sincere worship of God Almighty, nor are they characterized with sincerity of intention and purity of purpose. Rather, this kind of 'ibadat are aimed to achieve mundane purposes and to seek the objects of lowly desires. Hence the acts of such a person are not rightful.

 

The Steps to Learning

 

And it was indicated to me to read the hadith such that these are the means to gain knowledge not that of the world but of the self.

 

جَاءَ رَجُلٌ إِلَى رَسُولِ اَللَّهِ صَلَّى اَللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَ آلِهِ فَقَالَ يَا رَسُولَ اَللَّهِ مَا اَلْعِلْمُ

قَالَ اَلْإِنْصَاتُ

قَالَ ثُمَّ مَهْ

قَالَ اَلاِسْتِمَاعُ

قَالَ ثُمَّ مَهْ

قَالَ اَلْحِفْظُ

قَالَ ثُمَّ مَهْ

قَالَ اَلْعَمَلُ بِهِ

قَالَ ثُمَّ مَهْ يَا رَسُولَ اَللَّهِ

قَالَ نَشْرُهُ

 

The Prophet of God (peace be upon him) was asked:

 

“What is Knowledge?” He replied: “To keep silent”.

 

He was asked: “Then?” He said: “To listen.”

 

He was asked: “Then?” He said: “To remember.”

 

He was asked: “Then?” He said: “To act upon (what is learned).”

 

He was asked: “Then?” He said: “To propagate.”

 

[Ref: Al-Majlisi, Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 2, pg. 28]

 

Said the wise:

 

اَلحِفْظُ فِى الصِّغَرِ كَالنَّقْشِ عَلَى الْحَجَرِ وَ الْحِفْظُ فِى الْكِبَرِ كَالْكِتَابَةِ عَلَى الْمَاءِ

 

''Learning something during one's youth is like engraving in stone,

and learning something when one is old is like writing on the surface of water.’’

 

[Ref : Bihar al-Anwar, v. 1, p. 222, no. 6]

 

The Child

 

The Prophet of God (peace be upon him) said:

 

إنَّ لِكُلِّ شَجَرَةٍ ثَمَرَةً ، وثَمَرَةُ القَلْبِ الوَلَدُ

 

“For every tree there is a fruit and the fruit of the heart is the child.”

 

[Ref: Kanz al-`Ummal, no. 45415]

  

Ghaus Pak (ra) in Al Fath Ar Rabbani:

 

“An incident goes that the people of Bani Israel once were faced with a suffering. They gathered and went to the Prophet of their time. ‘What can we do, O Nabi (as)?’ they asked him. “What is the deed that will please Allah and it becomes the means to deliver us from our hardship?”

 

The Prophet (as) prayed to Allah to unveil to him what that deed would be.

 

Allah Subhan a Ta’ala revealed to his Prophet (as), “Tell them! If you seek My Pleasure, become a cause to bring happiness to the needy. Thus if you bring ease to them, in their happiness I will become pleased with you. And if you displease them, I will remain displeased with you.”

 

59. If you love God, follow me

 

قُلْ إِن كُنتُمْ تُحِبُّونَ اللَّهَ فَاتَّبِعُونِي يُحْبِبْكُمُ اللَّهُ

وَيَغْفِرْ لَكُمْ ذُنُوبَكُمْ ۗ وَاللَّهُ غَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ

 

Say (O Prophet (peace be upon you)), "If you love God, follow me and God will love you

and forgive you your sins for God is Much-Forgiving, a Dispenser of Grace."

Surah Aal e Imran, Verse 31

 

Tafseer e Jilani:

 

Qul: Say, O Beloved (peace be upon you), who has been created to reflect Our Appearance, who has been shaped according to the collective standards of Our Names and Attributes, who has been made so as to acquire all of Our Manner, (say) to the one who you wish to guide and make them reach a certain status from amongst Creation…

 

In kuntum: “If you, O one who is wayward and drowning in the sea of heedlessness and being astray,

 

Tuhuboon Allaha: claim love for God, The One who brought you into appearance from nothingness, and you want to focus towards His Being and you want to be in good standing at His Door…

 

Fattabi’ouni: follow me, because it is His Command and His Order…

 

Yuhbibkum Allahu: and Allah will love you i.e. He will allow you nearness of His Essence and He will make you reach the Honour of meeting Him…

 

Wa yaghfir: And He will hide and make disappear…

 

Lakum: for you, from your outer and inner eyes,…

 

Dhunubukum: your sins, which cause you to be veiled from the witnessing of the Beauty of Allah and His Magnificence and the vision of His Names and Attributes.

 

Wallahu: Allah is The Only Guide for you towards Sirat e Tauheed, the Path of His One-ness.

 

Ghafur: And He is Most Forgiving for you, lifting the barriers that prevent you from gaining closeness to Him.

 

Rahim: And Most Affectionate towards you making you reach towards what you desire eagerly.

 

60. Allah is Sufficient for you and the believers who follow you

 

‏يَٓأَيُّهَا ٱلنَّبِىُّ حَسْبُكَ ٱللَّهُ وَمَنِ ٱتَّبَعَكَ مِنَ ٱلْمُؤْمِنِينَ ‎

 

O Prophet (peace be upon you), Allah is Sufficient for you and those of the believers who follow you.

Surah Al Anfal, Verse 64

 

Tafseer e Jilani:

 

Ya Ayyuha Nabi: O Communicator of the Hidden (peace be upon you), the one who has been succored by Allah with His Help and victory against the enemies…

 

Hasabaka Allahu: only your Lord is Sufficient for you, who is the Disposer of your affairs…

 

Wa man attaba’ka: and (He is Sifficient) for the one who is obedient to you by the Permission of Allah and His Will…

 

Min al Mo’mineen: from amongst the believers, the ones who possess certainty in the One-ness of Allah, Al Mo’qineen, the ones who are fulfillers of their promises, Al Muwaffaween, the ones who are striving hard and struggling, in His Way, Al Badileen.

  

61. Indeed I am Me, Allah

 

‏إِنَّنِىٓ أَنَا ٱللَّهُ لَآ إِلَهَ إِلَّآ أَنَا۠ فَٱعْبُدْنِى وَأَقِمِ ٱلصَّلَوٰةَ لِذِكْرِىٓ ‎

 

Indeed, only I am Allah. (There is) no god but I, so worship Me

and establish the prayer for My remembrance.

Surah Taha, Verse 14

 

So let the people know from Me, as My Vice-regent,

 

Innani ana Allah: Indeed, only I am Allah, The Only One, The All Encompassing, gathering all the Ranks and Names.

 

La ilaha: There is no one else who is The Gatherer of these ranks…

 

Illa ana: except Me, The Possessor of All Things, The One Worthy of obedience and being bound by…

 

Fa’budni: so that you worship Me as is rightful of My Worship i.e. with the best of etiquette with Me by being in your manners as My Manners.

 

Wa iqm as-salat: And always be inclined with all your (physical and spiritual) parts…

 

Li dikri: with conscious concentration upon Me with all your (inner and outer) parts so that you can remember Me with all of them and express your gratitude to Me with all of them, till I unveil for you (all your veils), from every part of you, such that I become your hearing and your sight and your body and your feet and everything else in your parts until the Hour of Resurrection comes upon you.

 

And you stand up in front of your Lord and you find your abode in Jannat al Mawa, near Sidrat ul Muntaha, the Lote Tree, where lies the climax of ascension, the ending of your ascent in moving upwards and your advancement.

 

62. The Breaking of the Pact

 

‏بَرَآءَةٌۭ مِّنَ ٱللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِۦٓ إِلَى ٱلَّذِينَ عَهَدتُّم مِّنَ ٱلْمُشْرِكِينَ

 

The disavowal from obligations by Allah and His Messenger (peace be upon him) from the covenant with the idolators.

Surah Tauba, Verse 1

 

Commentary by Hazrat Najmuddin Kubra (ra) on the verse:

 

The symbolic meaning of the verse is this: The mushrikeen, the idolator, is the wayward and polytheist nafs, the base self, who made desires its lord and master and began to worship the idols of the world. When a person is in their early years, the ruh and qalb, the soul and the heart within the heart which is the Station of Recognition of Allah, made a pact with the nafs.

 

The terms of it being that the ruh and the qalb will not fight and kill the nafs until the person reaches maturity. Similarly, the nafs also makes a pact not to instigate problems with the ruh and the qalb so that the bodily skeleton reaches complete maturity and the physical strength is attained at its peak, which carry the burden of Allah’s Trust and become watchful of Islamic Jurisprudence, the Shari’a.

 

In this time, the aql, the intellect, the power to reason and reflect, becomes strong which can then accept the invitation of Truth and have the ability to answer it. It is this aql that allows the recognition of the Prophets and their miracles. And it is through this aql that the proof of the Presence of Allah is established and it understands the compulsion of His Worship in order to express gratitude towards Him for His Blessings.

Indeed, Allah and His Messenger (peace be upon him) withdraw from the pact after maturity is gained.

 

Because Man broke the pact which was between the nafs and the ruh and the qalb. Before maturity was gained, the nafs was only focused on eating, drinking and clothing itself so that the body can develop and all its needs are met. To this extent, there was no problem for the ruh and the qalb from the nafs. But once maturity was gained, lust and desires became added to these needs.

 

When the lust appeared along with the need for food and drink, its destruction, created physical desires for a mate. When that lust was aroused and started tempting the body, the qalb and the ruh began to become weak. This was the fatal disease for which the Prophets were sent so as to dispel it.

 

انما بعثت لرفع العادات و ترک الشھوات

 

Just like Nabi Kareem (peace be upon said),

“I have been sent to end the ways of ignorance and to prevail over the desires of lust.”

 

63. God bears Witness that there is no god but Him.

 

‏شَهِدَ ٱللَّهُ أَنَّهُۥ لَآ إِلَهَ إِلَّا هُوَ وَٱلْمَلَٓئِكَةُ وَأُو۟لُوا۟ ٱلْعِلْمِ قَآئِمًۢا بِٱلْقِسْطِ ۚ

لَآ إِلَهَ إِلَّا هُوَ ٱلْعَزِيزُ ٱلْحَكِيمُ ‎

 

God bears witness that there is no god but Him.

And so do the angels and all who are endowed with knowledge and He is the Upholder of Justice.

There is no God except Him, the All-Mighty and the Truly Wise.

Surah Aal e Imran, Verse 8

 

Tafseer e Jilani:

 

Shahid Allah: Allah bears witness Himself for His Self that, without doubt, He is…

 

Annahu la ilaha: The Only One Present and there is no being except His and there is nothing else and there is no reality and nor will there be any presence, being or reality and there is nothing lasting…

 

Illa hu: except Him Who is, in fact, The Only One Ever-Living with Truth, The Only One who is the Sustainer of All Existence, The One Alone forever, there is nothing except Him.

Wa: And in the way He proffers evidence about Himself…

 

Al-Malaikatu: so do the angels, which are His Perfect Names and Attributes which exist with the existence of His Essence, because everything is in existence because of His Existence, Unchanging and there is no Authority to resort to except for His.

 

Wa: And in the way that He proffers evidence about Himself…

Ulol ilm: so do the people who were given knowledge, who are from amongst the phenomenon of Creation (created) upon His Appearance that is nourished by His Attributes and His Names. And indeed, the witnessing of each thing is a returning towards His Witnessing so it is as if everything…

 

Qaiman: is made to be forever (because He has made it everlasting)…

 

Bil qist: with His Justice extended across the surface of the Universe from the beginning till the end because…

 

La ilaha: there is nothing that makes a thing appear…

 

Illa huwal Aziz: except The One who is Dominant, All Powerful

upon making all things appear…

 

Al Hakeem: The One who is Perfect in its nurturing and its management, these witnesses say with obedience and with love after they become steadfast in the rank of being worshippers.

  

64. This religion was made according to your nature

 

‏فَأَقِمْ وَجْهَكَ لِلدِّينِ حَنِيفًۭا ۚ فِطْرَتَ ٱللَّهِ ٱلَّتِى فَطَرَ ٱلنَّاسَ عَلَيْهَا ۚ

لَا تَبْدِيلَ لِخَلْقِ ٱللَّهِ ۚ

ذَلِكَ ٱلدِّينُ ٱلْقَيِّمُ وَلَكِنَّ أَكْثَرَ ٱلنَّاسِ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ ‎

 

So set your face steadfastly to the faith, upright, made by Allah according to the nature Mankind was created upon.

There is no changing God’s Creation.

That is the correct religion but most people do not know it.

Surah Ar-Rum, Verse 30

 

Tafseer e Jilani:

 

And after you heard, O Messenger who completes the Message (peace be upon you), that guidance and being astray, indeed, both are entrusted to Me, The Greatest, The Most Exalted…

 

Faiqm wajhaka: be steadfast and firmly rooted by the focus of your heart, which is a special bestowing from Allah upon you, perfecting your perfection and purifying you from your limitations of being mortal and the shackles of your nature, so that you can reach the Place of One-ness, which is what you have been created for…

 

Liddini: in the religion that was sent upon you from your Lord, to teach you manners (ta’deebun) O Messenger who completes The Message (peace be upon you), and the ones who follow you and to reform your state (islaha-ka) and the states of your followers…

 

Haneefan: so you are the ones who turn away from the religions of falsehood and untrue perceptions in entirety. And be certain, O Messenger who completes The Message (peace be upon you), that indeed…

 

Fitratallaha allati fatarn naasa aliyha: this is the nature established by Allah upon which He has created Mankind and (the nature) set-up by Allah upon which they have been born, originally moulded, which stays in them forever because…

 

La tabdeela: it does not alter and it does not change and it does not transform…

 

Likhalq illah: Allah’s Creation. The One who is All-Wise, All Knowing and His Planning, which is set-up according to His Knowledge and Wisdom as He says, “My Decree does not change - Surah Qaf/29”…

 

Dalika Adeeno: this is the religion that was sent upon you from your Lord, O Messenger who completes The Message (peace be upon you), for safeguarding the original nature, mentioned above. This is the religion…

 

Al Qayyum: that is the Path that is straight, moderate and steadfast, which will connect to the One-ness of Allah, through this Path which is upright without crookedness and inclinations.

 

Wa liknna akthar anaasi: But most people, who have been created upon inability to be attentive and are forgetful…

 

La yalamoon: do not know the reality of this religion. And they do not understand its uprightness and its connection with Allah’s One-ness. So it is dutied upon you all, who follow the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), that you accept the faith and are obedient in everything from that Allah commands and that which He forbids you from.

 

66. What you want (in goodness) is only that which Allah wills

 

‏وَمَا تَشَآءُونَ إِلَّآ أَن يَشَآءَ ٱللَّهُ رَبُّ ٱلْعَلَمِينَ

 

And you cannot will it unless Allah wills it.

Surah At-Takwir, Verse 29

 

Tafseer e Jilani

 

Wa: And the end of this chapter is this, that indeed…

 

Ma tasha’oona: what you will and what you choose in the way of your conscience and guidance for yourselves…

 

Illa ayyasha Allahu: is not except that which Allah wills for your guidance and gives you ability for with steadfastness and morality, as a favour upon you and His Bounty.

 

Because the deeds performed by you in your routine are only coming from Allah, generated by Him in their origin, because He is the Only One, Glory be to Him…

 

Rabbul Alimeen: The Sustainer of the Universe. There is no Sustainer present except Him and there is no Disposer of Affairs in the apparent realms except Him. And the demand of His Nurturing and making perfect and complete is fulfilled by guiding His Servants and granting them ability towards that which is best for them and what is the most suitable for their situation.

 

Then Ghaus Pak (ra) prays: “Dear Allah! Give us ability to do, by Your Bounty and Your Munificence, that which You love and that which pleases You from us, O Our Protector!

 

Continued at flickr.com/photos/42093313@N00/51722302249/in/dateposted-...

 

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Everything you want to ask about Boxing. History of boxing,Greatest Heavyweight Champions of past and present, Boxing equipment, Boxing styles, Boxing Rules, Boxing Videos from Important Fights.Muhammad Ali

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The Registan (Uzbek: Регистон, Registon) was the heart of the city of Samarkand of the Timurid Empire, now in Uzbekistan. The name Rēgistan (ریگستان) means "sandy place" or "desert" in Persian.

 

The Registan was a public square, where people gathered to hear royal proclamations, heralded by blasts on enormous copper pipes called dzharchis — and a place of public executions. It is framed by three madrasahs (Islamic schools) of distinctive Persian architecture. The square was regarded as the hub of the Timurid Renaissance.

 

The three madrasahs of the Registan are the Ulugh Beg Madrasah (1417–1420), the Sher-Dor Madrasah (1619–1636), and the Tilya-Kori Madrasah (1646–1660). Madrasah is an Arabic term meaning school.

 

Ulugh Beg Madrasah (1417–1420)

The Ulugh Beg Madrasah, built by Ulugh Beg during the Timurid Empire era of Timur, has an imposing iwan with a lancet-arch pishtaq or portal facing the square. The corners are flanked by high minarets. The mosaic panel over the iwan's entrance arch is decorated by geometrical stylized ornaments. The square courtyard includes a mosque and lecture rooms, and is fringed by the dormitory cells in which students lived. There are deep galleries along the axes. Originally the Ulugh Beg Madrasah was a two-storied building with four domed darskhonas (lecture rooms) at the corners.

 

The Ulugh Beg Madrasah (Persian: مدرسه الغ بیگ) was one of the best clergy universities of the Muslim Orient in the 15th century CE. Abdul-Rahman Jami, the great Persian poet, scholar, mystic, scientist and philosopher studied at the madrasah. Ulugh Beg himself gave lectures there. During Ulugh Beg's government the madrasah was a centre of learning.

 

Sher-Dor Madrasah (1619–1636)

In the 17th century Uzbek ruler of Samarkand, Yalangtoʻsh Bakhodir, ordered the construction of the Sher-Dor (Persian: شیردار) and Tillya-Kori (Persian: طلاکاری) madrasahs. The tiger mosaics with a rising sun on their back are especially interesting for their depiction of living beings and use of Turko-Persian motifs. The name of the madrasah comes from the patterns on the portal of the building as the word "Sher" means tiger.

 

Tilya-Kori Madrasah (1646–1660)

Ten years later the Tilya-Kori (Persian: طلاکاری, meaning "Gilded") Madrasah was built. It was not only a residential college for students, but also played the role of grand masjid (mosque). It has a two-storied main facade and a vast courtyard fringed by dormitory cells, with four galleries along the axes. The mosque building (see picture) is situated in the western section of the courtyard. The main hall of the mosque is abundantly gilded.

 

Mausoleum of Shaybanids

To the east of the Tilya-Kori Madrasah, the mausoleum of Shaybanids (16th century) is located (see picture). The real founder of Shaybanid power was Muhammad Shaybani—grandson of Abu'l-Khayr Khan. In 1500, with the backing of the Chaghataite Khanate, then based in Tashkent, Muhammad Shaybani conquered Samarkand and Bukhara from their last Timurid rulers. The founder of the dynasty then turned on his benefactors and in 1503 took old Tashkent. He captured Khiva in 1506 and in 1507 he swooped down on Merv (Turkmenistan), eastern Persia, and western Afghanistan. The Shaybanids stopped the advance of the Safavids, who in 1502 had defeated the Akkoyunlu (Azerbaijan). Muhammad Shaybani was a leader of nomadic Uzbek tribes. During the ensuing years they substantially settled down in oases of the Central Asia, Caspian shore, Tian Shan valleys, Russian steeps and Indostan . The one of the last and vast Uzbek invasion of the 15th century CE was the large component of today's Uzbek nation ethnogeny.

 

Chorsu trading dome

The trading dome Chorsu (1785) is situated right behind the Sher-Dor. Chorsu located at southeast of the Registan at the intersection of the cross-roads connecting Samarkand, Tashkent, Bukhara, and Shahrisabz. Chorsu is a word of Persian origin meaning "crossing roads," referring to this famous intersection of busy roadways. The building is old. It has a rather rich centuries-old history. At the moment, it is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List along with the rest of the historical part of the glorious city.

 

Chorsu was originally a bazaar constructed in the 15th century but was rebuilt in the 18th century, becoming a hat market. The current building was built during the reign of Amir Shahmurad, in 1785. Today, the bazaar which was previously located at Chorsu is nowadays the Siyob Bazaar near the Bibi-Khanym Mosque.

 

In 2005, ownership of Chorsu was transferred to the Academy of Arts of Uzbekistan. While renovating the building, three meters of dirt were removed from the building revealing the original base construction. Chorsu now serves as an art gallery which offers the work of artists both contemporary and historical. The art of in the Chorsu gallery displays the arts, culture, history, and diversity of the multi-national Uzbek people.

Allah,muhammad [Pbuh]

    

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Moskeen af Muhammad Ali Pasha eller Alabast moskeen (arabisk: مسجد محمد علي, tyrkisk: Mehmet Ali Pasa Camii) er en moské ligger i Citadel of Cairo i Egypten og bestilt af Muhammad Ali Pasha mellem 1830 og 1848. Muhammed Ali Moskeen er bygget efter model af kejser Justinians Hagia Sophia i Istandbul (år 536)

Beliggende på citadellet, det osmanniske moske, den største, der erl bygget i første halvdel af det 19. århundrede, er, med sin animerede silhuet og to minareter, den mest synlige moské i Cairo. Moskeen blev bygget til minde om Tusun Pasha, Muhammad Alis ældste søn, der døde i 1816.

Denne moské, sammen med borgen, er en af de seværdigheder og turistattraktioner i Cairo, der kan ses når man nærmer sig byen fra, uanset fra hvilken side.

Photograph: Neil Leifer, www.theguardian.com/sport/gallery/2014/oct/30/muhammad-al...

مشق گل، رقم محمد هادی، اواخر قرن 18میلادی، آبرنگ روی کاغذ.

15.5 در 7.5سانتیمتر

FLOWER STUDIES, SIGNED BY MUHAMMAD HADI, LATE 18TH CENTURY,

watercolour drawings on paper, signed in brown or black ink.

15.5 by 7.5cm.

Louisville loves its native Muhammad Ali. Yes, Louisville has horse races. It has bourbon. It has bluegrass. But no visitor of Derby City would understand the city's essence without seeing something of Ali here.

 

This is a painting of boxing champion Muhammad Ali in a mural outside the Louisville Boxing building in an older part of Louisville, Kentucky.

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