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Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), an Islamic Salafi Jihadist movement in western Iraq, the Egyptian Sinai, Libya, northeast Nigeria and Syria, self-styled as the 'Islamic State' (ad-Dawlah al-Islamiyah).<br/><br/> On 4 October 2011, the U.S. State Department listed al-Baghdadi as a 'Specially Designated Global Terrorist', and announced a reward of up to US$10 million for information leading to his capture or death.
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), an Islamic Salafi Jihadist movement in western Iraq, the Egyptian Sinai, Libya, northeast Nigeria and Syria, self-styled as the 'Islamic State' (ad-Dawlah al-Islamiyah).<br/><br/> On 4 October 2011, the U.S. State Department listed al-Baghdadi as a 'Specially Designated Global Terrorist', and announced a reward of up to US$10 million for information leading to his capture or death.
Yamin-ud-Dawla Abul-Qasim Mahmud ibn Sebuktegin, more commonly known as Mahmud of Ghazni (2 November 971 CE – 30 April 1030 CE), also known as Mahmūd-i Zābulī, was the most prominent ruler of the Ghaznavid Empire. He conquered the eastern Iranian lands and the northwestern Indian subcontinent (modern Afghanistan and Pakistan) between 997 and his death in 1030. Mahmud turned the former provincial city of Ghazni into the wealthy capital of an extensive empire which covered most of today's Afghanistan, eastern Iran, and Pakistan.<br/><br/> Al-Qadir (947 – 29 November 1031) was the Abbasid Caliph in Baghdad from 991 to 1031.
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), an Islamic Salafi Jihadist movement in western Iraq, the Egyptian Sinai, Libya, northeast Nigeria and Syria, self-styled as the 'Islamic State' (ad-Dawlah al-Islamiyah).<br/><br/> On 4 October 2011, the U.S. State Department listed al-Baghdadi as a 'Specially Designated Global Terrorist', and announced a reward of up to US$10 million for information leading to his capture or death.
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), an Islamic Salafi Jihadist movement in western Iraq, the Egyptian Sinai, Libya, northeast Nigeria and Syria, self-styled as the 'Islamic State' (ad-Dawlah al-Islamiyah).<br/><br/> On 4 October 2011, the U.S. State Department listed al-Baghdadi as a 'Specially Designated Global Terrorist', and announced a reward of up to US$10 million for information leading to his capture or death.
Selim II (Ottoman Turkish: سليم ثانى Selīm-i sānī; 28 May 1524 – 12 December/15 December 1574); also known as 'Selim the Sot' and as 'Sarı Selim' (Selim the Blond); was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1566 until his death in 1574.
Selim II (Ottoman Turkish: سليم ثانى Selīm-i sānī; 28 May 1524 – 12 December/15 December 1574); also known as 'Selim the Sot' and as 'Sarı Selim' (Selim the Blond); was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1566 until his death in 1574.
Sultan Suleyman I (1494-1566), also known as 'Suleyman the Magnificent' and 'Suleyman the Lawmaker', was the 10th and longest reigning sultan of the Ottoman empire.<br/><br/>He personally led his armies to conquer Transylvania, the Caspian, much of the Middle East and the Maghreb. He intoduced sweeping reforms in Turkish legislation, education, taxation and criminal law, and was highly respected as a poet and a goldsmith. Suleyman also oversaw a golden age in the development of arts, literature and architecture in the Ottoman empire.
Mahmud I (1696 - July 1, 1754), known as the Hunchback, was a sultan of the Ottoman Empire and a son of Sultan Mustafa II (1664-1703). He became sultan after a coup by rebellious Janissaries resulted in his uncle, Sultan Ahmed III, being forced to abdicate.
Mughal painting is a particular style of South Asian painting, generally confined to miniatures either as book illustrations or as single works to be kept in albums, which emerged from Persian miniature painting, with Indian Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist influences, and developed largely in the court of the Mughal Empire (16th - 19th centuries), and later spread to other Indian courts, both Muslim and Hindu, and later Sikh.
Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib (Arabic: علي بن أﺑﻲ طالب;, c.598-661 CE). The son of Abu Talib, Ali was also the cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet, Muhammad, ruling over the Islamic Caliphate from 656 to 661, and was the first male convert to Islam.<br/><br/> Sunnis consider Ali the fourth and final of the Rashidun (rightly guided) Caliphs, while Shia regard Ali as the first Imam and consider him and his descendants the rightful successors to Muhammad, all of which are members of the Ahl al-Bayt, the household of Muhammad. This disagreement split the Ummah (Muslim community) into the Sunni and Shia branches.
Mughal painting is a particular style of South Asian painting, generally confined to miniatures either as book illustrations or as single works to be kept in albums, which emerged from Persian miniature painting, with Indian Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist influences, and developed largely in the court of the Mughal Empire (16th - 19th centuries), and later spread to other Indian courts, both Muslim and Hindu, and later Sikh.
John VII Grammatikos or Grammaticus, i.e., 'the Grammarian' (Greek: Ιωάννης Ζ΄ Γραμματικός, Iōannēs VII Grammatikos), Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople from January 21, 837 to March 4, 843, died before 867.<br/><br/> John was renowned for his learning (hence the nickname Grammatikos), and for his persuasive rhetoric in the endless debates that are a favorite subject of hagiographic sources reflecting the second period of Iconoclasm. John was also charged with tutoring the future Emperor Theophilos during the reign of his father Michael II, and is credited with instilling strong Iconoclast sympathies in his student. On the accession of Theophilos, John was appointed synkellos (patriarch's assistant), a position that made him a likely heir to the patriarchate.<br/><br/> In c. 830, John was dispatched on an embassy to the Caliph al-Ma'mun, but this did little to prevent a period of fierce warfare between the Byzantine Empire and the Abbasids. He did, however, bring back a plan of the Abbasid palace at Baghdad for the amusement of his emperor and supervised the building of a similar structure in Bithynia.<br/><br/> The circumstances of John VII's patriarchate are obscure. He was appointed patriarch by his student Theophilos and may have been responsible for the slight intensification of the persecution of Iconodules. He was deposed by Theophilos' widow Theodora (his own relative) as a preliminary towards the ending of Iconoclasm in 843. The deposed patriarch survived into the 860s.
Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib (Arabic: علي بن أﺑﻲ طالب;, c.598-661 CE). The son of Abu Talib, Ali was also the cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet, Muhammad, ruling over the Islamic Caliphate from 656 to 661, and was the first male convert to Islam.<br/><br/> Sunnis consider Ali the fourth and final of the Rashidun (rightly guided) Caliphs, while Shia regard Ali as the first Imam and consider him and his descendants the rightful successors to Muhammad, all of which are members of the Ahl al-Bayt, the household of Muhammad. This disagreement split the Ummah (Muslim community) into the Sunni and Shia branches.
Mustafa III (January 28, 1717 – January 21, 1774) was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1757 to 1774. He was a son of Sultan Ahmed III (1703–30) and was succeeded by his brother Abdul Hamid I (1774–89). An energetic and perceptive ruler, Mustafa III sought to modernize the army and the internal state machinery to bring his empire in line with the Powers of Europe. Unfortunately the Ottoman state had declined so far that any general attempts at modernization were but a drop in the ocean, while any major plans to change the administrative status quo immediately roused the conservative Janissaries and imams to the point of rebellion.<br/><br/> Mustafa III did secure the services of foreign generals to initiate a reform of the infantry and artillery. The Sultan also ordered the founding of Academies for Mathematics, Navigation and the Sciences. Well aware of his own military weakness, Mustafa III assiduously avoided war and was powerless to prevent the annexation of the Crimea by Catherine II of Russia (1762–96). However this action, combined with further Russian aggression in Poland compelled Mustafa III to declare war on Russia shortly before his death. He died at Topkapi Palace, Istanbul.
The Sack of Amorium by the Abbasids in mid-August 838 represents one of the major events in the long history of the Byzantine–Arab Wars. The exceptionally large Abbasid army was led by the Caliph al-Mu'tasim (r. 833–842), who was eager to avenge the almost unopposed expedition launched by the Byzantine emperor Theophilos (r. 829–842) into the Caliphate's borderlands the previous year. The Abbasids penetrated deep into Byzantine Asia Minor, defeating the emperor at Anzen, sacking Ancyra and finally reaching Amorium—at the time one of Byzantium's largest cities and the birthplace of its ruling Amorian dynasty. The city fell after a short siege, probably by treason, and a large part of its inhabitants were slaughtered, with the remainder driven off as slaves.
Selim III (Ottoman Turkish: سليم ثالث Selīm-i sālis) (24 December 1761 – 28 or 29 July 1808) was the reform-minded Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1789 to 1807. The Janissaries eventually deposed and imprisoned him, and placed his cousin Mustafa on the throne as Mustafa IV.
Selim I, Yavuz Sultân Selim Khan, Hâdim-ül Haramain-ish Sharifain (Servant of the Holy Cities of Mecca and Medina), nicknamed Yavuz 'the Stern' or 'the Steadfast', but often rendered in English as 'the Grim' (October 10, 1465/1466/1470 – September 22, 1520), was Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1512 to 1520.<br/><br/>He was also the first Ottoman Sultan to assume the title of Caliph of Islam. He was granted the title of 'Hâdim ül Haramain ish Sharifain' (Servant of the Holy Cities of Mecca and Medina), by the Sharif of Mecca in 1517.<br/><br/>Selim carried the empire to the leadership of the Sunni branch of Islam by his conquest of the Middle East. He represents a sudden change in the expansion policy of the empire, which had worked mostly against the West before his reign. The Ottoman Empire almost trebled in size during Selim's relatively short reign.
Mustafa III (January 28, 1717 – January 21, 1774) was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1757 to 1774. He was a son of Sultan Ahmed III (1703–30) and was succeeded by his brother Abdul Hamid I (1774–89). An energetic and perceptive ruler, Mustafa III sought to modernize the army and the internal state machinery to bring his empire in line with the Powers of Europe.<br/><br/>Unfortunately the Ottoman state had declined so far that any general attempts at modernization were but a drop in the ocean, while any major plans to change the administrative status quo immediately roused the conservative Janissaries and imams to the point of rebellion. Mustafa III did secure the services of foreign generals to initiate a reform of the infantry and artillery. The Sultan also ordered the founding of Academies for Mathematics, Navigation and the Sciences.<br/><br/>Well aware of his own military weakness, Mustafa III assiduously avoided war and was powerless to prevent the annexation of the Crimea by Catherine II of Russia (1762–96). However this action, combined with further Russian aggression in Poland compelled Mustafa III to declare war on Russia shortly before his death. He died at Topkapi Palace, Istanbul.
Selim II (Ottoman Turkish: سليم ثانى Selīm-i sānī; 28 May 1524 – 12 December/15 December 1574), also known as 'Selim the Sot' and as 'Sarı Selim' (Selim the Blond), was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1566 until his death in 1574.
Selim III (Ottoman Turkish: سليم ثالث Selīm-i sālis) (24 December 1761 – 28 or 29 July 1808) was the reform-minded Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1789 to 1807. The Janissaries eventually deposed and imprisoned him, and placed his cousin Mustafa on the throne as Mustafa IV.
Sultan Suleyman I (1494-1566), also known as 'Suleyman the Magnificent' and 'Suleyman the Lawmaker', was the 10th and longest reigning sultan of the Ottoman empire.<br/><br/>He personally led his armies to conquer Transylvania, the Caspian, much of the Middle East and the Maghreb. He intoduced sweeping reforms in Turkish legislation, education, taxation and criminal law, and was highly respected as a poet and a goldsmith. Suleyman also oversaw a golden age in the development of arts, literature and architecture in the Ottoman empire.
Qasr al-Hayr al-Gharbi castle (Arabic: قصر الحير الغربي‎), located 80 km south-west of Palmyra on the Damascus road, is a twin palace with Qasr al-Hayr al-Sharqi, built by the Umayyad caliph Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik in 727 CE.<br/><br/> It was used as an eye of the king during the Umayyad era, to control the movement of the desert tribes and to be a barrier against them, as well as being a hunting chalet. Later it was utilized by the Ayyubids and the Mamelukes but was abandoned permanently after the Mongol invasions.<br/><br/> The castle is quadrangular in outline with 70-meter sides. The central doorway to the castle is very attractive, and has been moved to the National Museum of Damascus to be used as the entrance. Its semi-cylindrical towers on the sides of the doorway, columns, and the geometric shapes mirrored a blend of Persian, Byzantine and Arab architecture.<br/><br/> Not much remains from the castle. All that is visible is a reservoir to collect waters from Harbaka dam, a bath and a khan. The gateway is presently preserved as a façade in the National Museum of Damascus.
Selim II (Ottoman Turkish: سليم ثانى Selīm-i sānī; 28 May 1524 – 12 December/15 December 1574), also known as 'Selim the Sot' and as 'Sarı Selim' (Selim the Blond), was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1566 until his death in 1574.
Sultan Suleyman I (1494-1566), also known as 'Suleyman the Magnificent' and 'Suleyman the Lawmaker', was the 10th and longest reigning sultan of the Ottoman empire.<br/><br/>He personally led his armies to conquer Transylvania, the Caspian, much of the Middle East and the Maghreb. He intoduced sweeping reforms in Turkish legislation, education, taxation and criminal law, and was highly respected as a poet and a goldsmith. Suleyman also oversaw a golden age in the development of arts, literature and architecture in the Ottoman empire.
Abū Ma'shar, Ja'far ibn Muḥammad al-Balkhī (also known as al-Falakī or Ibn Balkhī, Latinized as Albumasar, Albusar, or Albuxar) (10 August 787 in Balkh, Khurasan – 9 March 886 in Wāsiṭ, Iraq), was a Persian astrologer, astronomer, and Islamic philosopher, thought to be the greatest astrologer of the Abbasid court in Baghdad.<br/><br/> He was not a major innovator, and his works are practical books for training of astrologers; even as an astrologer he was not intellectually rigorous. Nevertheless, he wrote a number of practical manuals on astrology that profoundly influenced Muslim intellectual history and, through translations, that of western Europe and Byzantium.
Selim III (Ottoman Turkish: سليم ثالث Selīm-i sālis) (24 December 1761 – 28 or 29 July 1808) was the reform-minded Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1789 to 1807. The Janissaries eventually deposed and imprisoned him, and placed his cousin Mustafa on the throne as Mustafa IV.
Sultan Suleyman I (1494-1566), also known as 'Suleyman the Magnificent' and 'Suleyman the Lawmaker', was the 10th and longest reigning sultan of the Ottoman empire.<br/><br/>He personally led his armies to conquer Transylvania, the Caspian, much of the Middle East and the Maghreb. He intoduced sweeping reforms in Turkish legislation, education, taxation and criminal law, and was highly respected as a poet and a goldsmith. Suleyman also oversaw a golden age in the development of arts, literature and architecture in the Ottoman empire.
Mehmed VI (Ottoman Turkish: محمد سادس Meḥmed-i sâdis, وحيد الدين Vahideddin. Turkish: Vahideddin or VI. Mehmed) (14 January 1861 – 16 May 1926) was the 36th and last Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, reigning from 1918 to 1922.<br/><br/> The brother of Mehmed V, he succeeded to the throne as the eldest male member of the House of Osman after the 1916 suicide of Abdülaziz's son Yusuf Izzettin Efendi, the heir to the throne. He was girded with the Sword of Osman on 4 June 1918, as the thirty-sixth padishah. His father was Sultan Abdülmecid I and mother was Gülüstü (1831 – May 1861), an ethnic Abkhazian, daughter of Prince Tahir Bey Çaçba and his wife Afişe Lakerba, originally named Fatma Çaçba.<br/><br/> Mehmed was removed from the throne when the Ottoman sultanate was abolished in 1922.
Selim II (Ottoman Turkish: سليم ثانى Selīm-i sānī; 28 May 1524 – 12 December/15 December 1574), also known as 'Selim the Sot' and as 'Sarı Selim' (Selim the Blond), was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1566 until his death in 1574.
Sultan Suleyman I (1494-1566), also known as 'Suleyman the Magnificent' and 'Suleyman the Lawmaker', was the 10th and longest reigning sultan of the Ottoman empire.<br/><br/>He personally led his armies to conquer Transylvania, the Caspian, much of the Middle East and the Maghreb. He intoduced sweeping reforms in Turkish legislation, education, taxation and criminal law, and was highly respected as a poet and a goldsmith. Suleyman also oversaw a golden age in the development of arts, literature and architecture in the Ottoman empire.
Abū Jaʿfar Abdullāh al-Māʾmūn ibn Harūn (also spelled Almamon, Al-Maymun and el-Mâmoûn, Arabic ابوجعفر عبدالله المأمون) (September 13, 786 – August 9, 833) (المأمون) was an Abbasid caliph who reigned from 813 until his death in 833.<br/><br/> Illumination from the Ḫamse (quintet) of the Ottoman Turkish poet and scholar ʿAṭāʾullāh bin Yaḥyá ʿAṭāʾī (d. 1044 AH / 1634 CE).
Selim III (Ottoman Turkish: سليم ثالث Selīm-i sālis) (24 December 1761 – 28 or 29 July 1808) was the reform-minded Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1789 to 1807. The Janissaries eventually deposed and imprisoned him, and placed his cousin Mustafa on the throne as Mustafa IV.
Selim I, Yavuz Sultân Selim Khan, Hâdim-ül Haramain-ish Sharifain (Servant of the Holy Cities of Mecca and Medina), nicknamed Yavuz 'the Stern' or 'the Steadfast', but often rendered in English as 'the Grim' (October 10, 1465/1466/1470 – September 22, 1520), was Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1512 to 1520.<br/><br/>He was also the first Ottoman Sultan to assume the title of Caliph of Islam. He was granted the title of 'Hâdim ül Haramain ish Sharifain' (Servant of the Holy Cities of Mecca and Medina), by the Sharif of Mecca in 1517.<br/><br/>Selim carried the empire to the leadership of the Sunni branch of Islam by his conquest of the Middle East. He represents a sudden change in the expansion policy of the empire, which had worked mostly against the West before his reign. The Ottoman Empire almost trebled in size during Selim's relatively short reign.
Mustafa III (January 28, 1717 – January 21, 1774) was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1757 to 1774. He was a son of Sultan Ahmed III (1703–30) and was succeeded by his brother Abdul Hamid I (1774–89). An energetic and perceptive ruler, Mustafa III sought to modernize the army and the internal state machinery to bring his empire in line with the Powers of Europe. Unfortunately the Ottoman state had declined so far that any general attempts at modernization were but a drop in the ocean, while any major plans to change the administrative status quo immediately roused the conservative Janissaries and imams to the point of rebellion.<br/><br/> Mustafa III did secure the services of foreign generals to initiate a reform of the infantry and artillery. The Sultan also ordered the founding of Academies for Mathematics, Navigation and the Sciences. Well aware of his own military weakness, Mustafa III assiduously avoided war and was powerless to prevent the annexation of the Crimea by Catherine II of Russia (1762–96). However this action, combined with further Russian aggression in Poland compelled Mustafa III to declare war on Russia shortly before his death. He died at Topkapi Palace, Istanbul.
Selim I, Yavuz Sultân Selim Khan, Hâdim-ül Haramain-ish Sharifain (Servant of the Holy Cities of Mecca and Medina), nicknamed Yavuz 'the Stern' or 'the Steadfast', but often rendered in English as 'the Grim' (October 10, 1465/1466/1470 – September 22, 1520), was Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1512 to 1520.<br/><br/> He was also the first Ottoman Sultan to assume the title of Caliph of Islam. He was granted the title of 'Hâdim ül Haramain ish Sharifain' (Servant of the Holy Cities of Mecca and Medina), by the Sharif of Mecca in 1517.<br/><br/> Selim carried the empire to the leadership of the Sunni branch of Islam by his conquest of the Middle East. He represents a sudden change in the expansion policy of the empire, which had worked mostly against the West before his reign. The Ottoman Empire almost trebled in size during Selim's relatively short reign.
Selim II Sarkhosh Hashoink (Ottoman Turkish: سليم ثانى Selīm-i sānī, Turkish:II.Selim; 28 May 1524 – 12 December/15 December 1574) was born in Istanbul, a son of Suleiman the Magnificent and his fourth and favourite Ruthenian wife Hürrem Sultan (Roxelana).<br/><br/> Military expeditions in the Hejaz and Yemen were successful, but his conquest of Cyprus in 1571 led to the calamitous naval defeat against Spain and Venice in the Battle of Lepanto in the same year, freeing the Mediterranean Sea from corsairs.<br/><br/> The Empire's shattered fleets were soon restored (in just six months; it consisted of about 150 galleys and 8 galleasses) and the Ottomans maintained control of the Mediterranean (1573). In August 1574, months before Selim's death, the Ottomans regained control of Tunisia from Spain who had controlled it since 1572.
The Shahi (Devanagari: शाही), also called Shahiya dynasties ruled one of the middle kingdoms of India which included portions of the Kabulistan and the old province of Gandhara (now in northern Pakistan), from the decline of the Kushan Empire in the 3rd century to the early 9th century.<br/><br/> The kingdom was known as 'Kabul Shahi' (Kabul-shāhān or Ratbél-shāhān in Persian کابلشاهان یا رتبیل شاهان) between 565 and 879 CE when they had Kapisa and Kabul as their capitals, and later as Hindu Shahi.<br/><br/> The Shahis of Kabul / Gandhara are generally divided into the two eras of the so-called Buddhist-Shahis and the so-called Hindu-Shahis, with the change-over thought to have occurred sometime around 870 CE.
The Ottoman imperial decree – firman – consists of the decree itself, frequently written in the chancellery script, Divani, with the signatures of the officials below and the signature of the ruling sultan in the form of an intricate tughra above.
In 1258 Hulagu invaded the Abbasid domain, comprising a little more than what is now Iraq and Syria. Baghdad was sacked on February 10 and Caliph Al-Mustasim was killed by Hulagu Khan soon afterwards. It is believed that the Mongols did not want to shed 'royal blood', so they wrapped him in a rug and trampled him to death with their horses.<br/><br/> Marco Polo reports that upon finding the caliph's great stores of treasure which could have been spent on the defense of his realm, Hulagu Khan locked him in his treasure room without food or water, telling him 'eat of thy treasure as much as thou wilt, since thou art so fond of it'.
Sultan Suleyman I (1494-1566), also known as 'Suleyman the Magnificent' and 'Suleyman the Lawmaker', was the 10th and longest reigning sultan of the Ottoman empire.<br/><br/>He personally led his armies to conquer Transylvania, the Caspian, much of the Middle East and the Maghreb. He intoduced sweeping reforms in Turkish legislation, education, taxation and criminal law, and was highly respected as a poet and a goldsmith. Suleyman also oversaw a golden age in the development of arts, literature and architecture in the Ottoman empire.