Ahab Ya- ,hab\ (fl. 9th century bc) Seventh king of the northern kingdom of Israel (r. c. 874-853 bc). He inherited a realm that included territory east of the Jordan River, in Gilead and probably Bashan, and also the tributary kingdom of Moab. His marriage to Jezebel revived an alliance with the Phoenicians, but her efforts to establish Baal worship provoked bitter opposition from Elijah. Ahab’s reign was dominated by a fierce bor¬ der war with Syria; he died in an attempt to recover Ramoth-Gilead from the Syrians.
Ahaggar Vo-'ha-gor, ,a-h9-'gar\ or Hoggar Vhag-or, o-'gar\ Moun¬ tains High plateau region, southern Algeria. Located in the central Sahara, it extends about 970 mi (1,550 km) from north to south and 1,300 mi (2,100 km) from east to west. Its mean elevation is above 3,000 ft (900 m); its highest peak is Mount Tahat (9,573 ft [2,918 m]). The main caravan route to Kano (Nigeria) passes along its western margin.
Ahidjo Xa-'hi-joV, Ahmadou (b. August 1924, Garoua, Cameroon—d. Nov. 30, 1989, Dakar, Senegal) First president of Cameroon, 1960-82. He presided over one of the few successful attempts at African unity: the joining of the southern half of the former British Cameroons with the larger French-speaking Cameroun. In 1982, after managing to build up a stable, relatively prosperous nation (through single-party rule), he went into exile after being implicated in a plot against his successor, Paul Biya.
ahimsa \o-'him-sa\ (Sanskrit: “noninjury”) Fundamental ethical virtue of Jainism, also respected in Buddhism and Hinduism. In Jainism ahimsa is the standard by which all actions are judged. It requires a householder observ¬ ing the small vows ( anuvrata ) to refrain from killing any animal life. An ascetic observing the great vows ( mahavrata ) is expected to take the great¬ est care not to injure any living substance, even unknowingly. To do so interrupts that being’s spiritual progress and increases one’s own karma, delaying liberation from the cycle of rebirth. In the 20th century Mohan¬ das K. Gandhi extended ahimsa into the political sphere as satyagraha.
Ahmad, MTrza Ghulam See Mirza Ghulam Ahmad
Ahmad ibn Hanbal Vak-mod-.ib-sn-'kan-bolV (b. 780, Baghdad, Iraq—d. 855, Baghdad) Muslim theologian and jurist. He began to study the Had]th (Traditions) at age 15. He traveled widely to study with the great masters and made five pilgrimages to Mecca. In 833-835 he bravely endured floggings and imprisonment rather than subscribe to the Mu'tazilI doctrine of a created (rather than eternal) Qur’an, and he is remembered as a staunch upholder of Muslim traditionalism. He compiled the Tradi¬ tions of Muhammad and is the eponym of the Hanbal! school, the most traditional of the four orthodox Islamic schools of law. Opposing codi¬ fication of the law, he believed jurists needed the freedom to derive legal solutions from the Qur’an and the sunna. He is revered as one of the fathers of Islam.
Ahmad Khan Vam-ad-'kanV, Sir Sayyid (b. Oct. 17, 1817, Delhi—d. March 27, 1898, Aligarh, India) Indian educator and jurist. Born into a family of officials in the Mughal dynasty, he worked for the British East India Co. and held various judicial posts. He supported the British in the 1857 Indian Mutiny but criticized their errors in his influential pamphlet Causes of the Indian Revolt. His other works include Essays on the Life of Mohammed (1870) and commentaries on the Bible and Qur’an. He founded schools at Muradabad and Ghazipur, established the Scientific Society, sought to strengthen the Muslim community through the reform journal Tahdhib al-Akhlaq, and was active in founding a Muslim college, the Anglo-Mohammedan Oriental College, in 1877 at Aligarh.
Ahmad Shah Durrani Vak-mod-'sha-dur-'a-neN (b. c. 1722, Multan, Punjab—d. Oct. 16?, 1772, Toba Ma'ruf, Afg.) Founder of modem Afghanistan. The son of an Afghan chief, he became shah in 1747 on the death of the Persian conqueror Nadir Shah, in whose army he had served. He proceeded to invade India nine times over the next 22 years in an attempt to control the trade routes between northern India and central and western Asia and became ruler of an empire that extended from the Amu Darya to the Indian Ocean and from Khorasan to present-day northern India. His hold on the Punjab, governed by his son Timur Shah, was weakened by rebellions at home, and he ultimately lost control of it to the Sikhs. Much of his empire disintegrated after his death.
Ahmad Sirhindi \sir-'hin-de\ (b. 1564?, Sirhind, Patiala, India—d. 1624, Sirhind) Indian mystic and theologian who is responsible for the
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Ahmadiyyah ► Alley I 31
revival of Sunnite Islam in India. He traced his descent from ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab. After a traditional Muslim education, he joined an important Sufi order and devoted himself to preaching against the tendencies of Akbar and his successor, Jahangir, toward pantheism and ShT'ite Islam. His views are outlined in his most famous work, Maktubat, a compilation of his letters. His burial place at Sirhind is a site of pilgrimage.
Ahmadiyyah X.ah-mo-'de-oX Islamic sect, founded in India in 1889 by MIrza Ghulam Ahmad. It holds that Jesus feigned death and resurrection and escaped to India and that jihad is a peaceful battle against nonbeliev¬ ers. Following the death of Ghulam Ahmad’s successor (1914), the Ahmadiyyah split. The Qadiani, based in Rabwah, Pak., recognize Ghu¬ lam Ahmad as a prophet; they are zealous missionaries, preaching Ahmadi beliefs as the one true Islam. A Lahore-based sect regards Ghulam Ahmad merely as a reformer and seeks to make converts to Islam generally. The term Ahmadiyyah is also used to describe various Sufi orders (see Sufism), particularly that founded by Ahmad al-Badaw! (d. 1276). One of the most popular orders in Egypt, it has branches throughout the Islamic world.
Ahmadu Seku Xa-'mad-ii-'sa-kuX (d. 1898, Sokoto, Northern Nigeria) Second and last ruler of the Tukulor empire in West Africa. Succeeding his father, al-Hajj ‘Umar, in 1864, Ahmadu ruled over a great empire cen¬ tred on the ancient Bambara kingdom of Segu, in present Mali. In 1887 he was forced to abandon Segu and accept French protectorate status. By 1891 most of his strongholds had been seized.
Ahmed Yesevi Xak-'met-.ye-se-'veX or Ahmad Yasawi
Xak-'med-.ya-sa-'veX (b. 11th century, Sayram—d. 1166, YasI, Turkistan) Turkish poet and Sufi mystic. When he was young his family moved to YasI, where he began his teaching. The Book of Wisdom, a collection of mystical poetry, is traditionally attributed to him. He established a mys¬ tical order whose rituals preserved Islamic and ancient Turco-Mongol customs, and promoted the spread of mysticism throughout the Turkish¬ speaking world. His poetry influenced Turkish literature and led to the development of mystical folk literature. He was revered as a saint, and Timur erected a magnificent mausoleum over his grave in 1397/98.
Ahmedabad Va-mo-do-.badX or Ahmadabad City (pop., 2001: metro, area, 4,525,013), Gujarat state, west-central India. It is located on the Sabarmati River 275 mi (440 km) north of Mumbai (Bombay). Founded in 1411 by Sultan Ahmad Shah, Ahmedabad reached its height later that century but subsequently declined. It was revived under Mughal emper¬ ors in the 17th century and came under British rule in 1818. With the opening of cotton mills in the mid-19th century, it became India’s largest inland industrial centre. The city is associated with Indian nationalism; Mohandas K. Gandhi’s political agitation began there in 1930. In 2001 the city was struck by a violent earthquake that took many lives.
Alisa*? \ak-'sa-e\, Ahmad al- in full Shaykh Ahmad ibn Zayn al-DTn Ibrahim al-Ahsa’I (b. 1753, Al-Hasa, Arabia—d. 1826, near Medina) Founder of the heterodox ShTite Muslim ShaykhI sect of Iran. He traveled widely in Persia and the Middle East. In 1808 he settled in Yazd, Persia, where he attracted followers with his interpretation of Shfism. He claimed knowledge from visions of Muhammad and the imams and contended that the imams were originally beings of divine light who participated in the creation of the world. Orthodox ShTite theologians declared him an apostate in 1824; he died two years later on pilgrimage to Mecca, but the ShaykhI sect survived him.