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| ==Ghazi warrior== | ==Ghazi warrior== | ||
| Ghazi (]: غازى) is an originally ] word, from ''ghazd'', 'to fight', also adopted by such languages as ] for Muslims vowed to combat non-believers. As such it is essentially equivalent to ]: waging ], i.e. holy war. | Ghazi (]: غازى) is an originally ] word, from ''ghazd'', 'to fight', also adopted by such languages as ] for Muslims vowed to combat non-believers. As such it is essentially equivalent to ]: waging ], i.e. holy war. | ||
| :For the ghāzīs in the marches, it was a religious duty to ravage the countries of the infidels who resisted Islam, and to force them into subjection. (''Cambridge History of Islam'', p. 283) | :For the ghāzīs in the marches, it was a religious duty to ravage the countries of the infidels who resisted Islam, and to force them into subjection. (''Cambridge History of Islam'', p. 283) | ||
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| The ''ghāzī'' warrior dates to at least the ], where he appears as a ] and frontier fighter in ] and ]. Later, up to 20,000 of them took part in the Indian campaigns of ]. | The ''ghāzī'' warrior dates to at least the ], where he appears as a ] and frontier fighter in ] and ]. Later, up to 20,000 of them took part in the Indian campaigns of ]. | ||
| ''Ghāzī'' warriors depended upon plunder for their livelihood, and were prone to ]age and ] in times of peace. The corporations into which they organized themselves attracted adventurers, ]s |
''Ghāzī'' warriors depended upon plunder for their livelihood, and were prone to ]age and ] in times of peace. The corporations into which they organized themselves attracted adventurers, ]s and religious and political dissidents of all ethnicities. In time, though, soldiers of ]ic ethnicity predominated, mirroring the Turkic rise to military and later political dominance throughout the Muslim world. | ||
| In the west, Turkic ''ghāzīs'' made continual incursions along the ], finding in the (often co-ethnic) ] (]) their counterparts. After the ] these incursions intensified, and also saw the ''ghāzī'' corporations coalesce into semi-] fraternities, with the white cap and the club as their emblems. |
In the west, Turkic ''ghāzīs'' made continual incursions along the ], finding in the (often co-ethnic) ] (]) their counterparts. After the ] these incursions intensified, and also saw the ''ghāzī'' corporations coalesce into semi-] fraternities, with the white cap and the club as their emblems. These organizations were fluid, however, reflecting their popular character, and ''ghāzī'' warriors would jump between them depending upon the prestige and success of a particular ]. It was from these ]n territories conquered during the ''ghazw'' that the Ottoman Empire emerged, and in its legendary traditions it is said that its founder, ], came forward as a ''ghāzī'' thanks to the inspiration of ] Ede Bali. | ||
| In later periods of Islamic history the honorific title of ''ghāzī'' was assumed by those Muslim rulers who showed conspicuous success in extending the domains of Islam, and eventually the honorific became exclusive to them, much as the Roman title ] became the exclusive property of the supreme ruler of the Roman state and his family. | In later periods of Islamic history the honorific title of ''ghāzī'' was assumed by those Muslim rulers who showed conspicuous success in extending the domains of Islam, and eventually the honorific became exclusive to them, much as the Roman title ] became the exclusive property of the supreme ruler of the Roman state and his family. | ||
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| : For political reasons the Ottoman Sultans — also being the last dynasty of ]s — attached the greatest importance to safeguarding and strengthening the reputation which they enjoyed as ''ghāzīs'' in the Muslim world. When they won victories in the ''ghazā'' in the Balkans they used to send accounts of them (singular, ''feth-nāme'') as well as slaves and booty to eastern Muslim potentates. Christian knights captured by ] at his victory over the Crusaders at ] in 1396, and sent to Cairo, Baghdad and Tabriz were paraded through the streets, and occasioned great demonstrations in favour of the Ottomans. (''Cambridge History of Islam'', p. 290) | : For political reasons the Ottoman Sultans — also being the last dynasty of ]s — attached the greatest importance to safeguarding and strengthening the reputation which they enjoyed as ''ghāzīs'' in the Muslim world. When they won victories in the ''ghazā'' in the Balkans they used to send accounts of them (singular, ''feth-nāme'') as well as slaves and booty to eastern Muslim potentates. Christian knights captured by ] at his victory over the Crusaders at ] in 1396, and sent to Cairo, Baghdad and Tabriz were paraded through the streets, and occasioned great demonstrations in favour of the Ottomans. (''Cambridge History of Islam'', p. 290) | ||
| Ghazi was also used as a title of honor in the Ottoman empire, generally translated as the Victorious, for military officers of high rank, who distinguished themselves in the field against non-Moslem enemies; thus it was conferred on Osman Pasha after his famous defence of Plevna. | Ghazi was also used as a title of honor in the Ottoman empire, generally translated as the Victorious, for military officers of high rank, who distinguished themselves in the field against non-Moslem enemies; thus it was conferred on Osman Pasha after his famous defence of ] in Bulgaria. | ||
| Two muslim rulers (in Afghanistan and Hyderabab)) personally used the subsidiary style ]. | Two muslim rulers (in Afghanistan and Hyderabab)) personally used the subsidiary style ]. | ||
| ==''Maghāzī'' literature== | ==''Maghāzī'' literature== | ||
| ''Maghāzī'', which literally means "campaigns", is typically used within ] to signify the military campaigns conducted by the ] during the post-] phase of his career. |
''Maghāzī'', which literally means "campaigns", is typically used within ] to signify the military campaigns conducted by the ] during the post-] phase of his career. The record of these campaigns, usually conducted as defensive measures against invaders or pre-emptive strikes against plotters, but involving traditional plundering, constitutes its own genre of prophetic biography within Islamic literature distinct from the ]. A famous example of the genre is the ''Maghāzī'' of ]. | ||
| === Operationally === | === Operationally === | ||
| When performed within the context of Islamic jihad warfare, the ''ghazw'''s function was to weaken the enemy's defenses in preparation for his eventual conquest and ]. |
When performed within the context of Islamic jihad warfare, the ''ghazw'''s function was to weaken the enemy's defenses in preparation for his eventual conquest and ]. Because the typical ''ghazw'' raiding party often did not have the size or strength to seize military or territorial objectives, this usually meant sudden attacks on weakly defended targets (e.g. villages) with the intent of terrorizing/demoralizing their inhabitants and destroying material which could support the enemy's military forces. Though rules of war in Islam's rules of warfare offered protection to non-combatants such as women, ] and ]s (in that, generally speaking, they could not be slain), their property could still be looted or destroyed, and they themselves could be abducted and enslaved (''Cambridge History of Islam'', p. 269): | ||
| :The only way of avoiding the onslaughts of the ''ghāzīs'' was to become subjects of the Islamic state. Non-Muslims could then enjoy the status of '']'', living under its protection. |
:The only way of avoiding the onslaughts of the ''ghāzīs'' was to become subjects of the Islamic state. Non-Muslims could then enjoy the status of '']'', living under its protection. Most Christian sources confuse these two stages in the Ottoman conquests. The Ottomans, however, were careful to abide by these rules... Faced with the terrifying onslaught of the ''ghāzīs'', the population living outside the confines of the ], in the ']', often renounced the ineffective protection of Christian states, and sought refuge in subjection to the Ottoman empire. Peasants in open country in particular lost nothing by this change. | ||
| :''Cambridge History of Islam'', p. 285 | :''Cambridge History of Islam'', p. 285 | ||
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Revision as of 08:19, 23 August 2006
This article is about the history and concept of ghazw and ghāzīs. For other meanings of 'gazi', see Gazi (disambiguation).Ghazw (plural ghazawāt) (Arabic: غزو) is an Arabic word meaning an armed incursion for the purposes of conquest, plunder, or the capture of slaves and is cognate with the terms ghāziya and maghāzī. In pre-Islamic times it signified the plundering raids organized by nomadic Bedouin warriors against either rival tribes or wealthier, sedentary neighbours.
In English language literature the word often appears as razzia, deriving from the French word razzier (rezzou) which entered the language at the time of the French colonization of North Africa, and which is itself a transliteration of the colloquial Arabic word ghazya. "Ghazawat" in some Muslim countries has the meaning of "Judgement".
Ghazi warrior
Ghazi (Arabic: غازى) is an originally Arabic word, from ghazd, 'to fight', also adopted by such languages as Turkish for Muslims vowed to combat non-believers. As such it is essentially equivalent to Mujahideen: waging jihad bin-saif, i.e. holy war.
- For the ghāzīs in the marches, it was a religious duty to ravage the countries of the infidels who resisted Islam, and to force them into subjection. (Cambridge History of Islam, p. 283)
Also:
- After the conquests had come to an end, the legal specialists laid down that the Caliph had to raid enemy territory at least once a year in order to keep the idea of jihad alive. (Peters, Jihad in Classical and Modern Islam: A Reader, p. 3)
The ghāzī warrior dates to at least the Samanid period, where he appears as a mercenary and frontier fighter in Khorasan and Transoxiana. Later, up to 20,000 of them took part in the Indian campaigns of Mahmud of Ghazni.
Ghāzī warriors depended upon plunder for their livelihood, and were prone to brigandage and sedition in times of peace. The corporations into which they organized themselves attracted adventurers, zealots and religious and political dissidents of all ethnicities. In time, though, soldiers of Turkic ethnicity predominated, mirroring the Turkic rise to military and later political dominance throughout the Muslim world.
In the west, Turkic ghāzīs made continual incursions along the Byzantine frontier zone, finding in the (often co-ethnic) akritai (akritoi) their counterparts. After the Battle of Manzikert these incursions intensified, and also saw the ghāzī corporations coalesce into semi-chivalric fraternities, with the white cap and the club as their emblems. These organizations were fluid, however, reflecting their popular character, and ghāzī warriors would jump between them depending upon the prestige and success of a particular emir. It was from these Anatolian territories conquered during the ghazw that the Ottoman Empire emerged, and in its legendary traditions it is said that its founder, Osman I, came forward as a ghāzī thanks to the inspiration of Shaikh Ede Bali.
In later periods of Islamic history the honorific title of ghāzī was assumed by those Muslim rulers who showed conspicuous success in extending the domains of Islam, and eventually the honorific became exclusive to them, much as the Roman title imperator became the exclusive property of the supreme ruler of the Roman state and his family.
The Ottomans were probably the first to adopt this practice, and in any case the institution of ghazw reaches back to the beginnings of their state:
- By early Ottoman times it had become a title of honor and a claim to leadership. In an inscription of 1337 , Orhan, second ruler of the Ottoman line, describes himself as "Sultan, son of the Sultan of the Gazis, Gazi son of Gazi… march lord of the horizons." The Ottoman poet Ahmedi, writing ca. 1402, defines a gazi as "the instruments of God's religion, a servant of God who cleanses the earth from the filth of polytheism… the sword of God." (Lewis, The Political Language of Islam, pp. 147–148, note 8)
The first nine Ottoman chiefs all used Ghazi as part of their full throne name (as is often done with titles regardlessly whether they fit the office), and often afterwards, though it never became a formal title within the ruler's formal style, while Sultan ul-Mujahidin was once thus used, by Sultan Murad Khan II Khoja-Ghazi, 6th Sovereign of the House of Osman (1421 - 1451), styled 'Abu'l Hayrat, Sultan ul-Mujahidin, Khan of Khans, Grand Sultan of Anatolia and Rumelia, and of the Cities of Adrianople and Philippolis.
Because of the political legitimacy that would accrue to those bearing this title, Muslim rulers vied amongst themselves for preeminence in the ghāziya, with the Ottoman Sultans generally acknowledged as excelling all others in this feat:
- For political reasons the Ottoman Sultans — also being the last dynasty of Caliphs — attached the greatest importance to safeguarding and strengthening the reputation which they enjoyed as ghāzīs in the Muslim world. When they won victories in the ghazā in the Balkans they used to send accounts of them (singular, feth-nāme) as well as slaves and booty to eastern Muslim potentates. Christian knights captured by Bāyezīd I at his victory over the Crusaders at Nicopolis in 1396, and sent to Cairo, Baghdad and Tabriz were paraded through the streets, and occasioned great demonstrations in favour of the Ottomans. (Cambridge History of Islam, p. 290)
Ghazi was also used as a title of honor in the Ottoman empire, generally translated as the Victorious, for military officers of high rank, who distinguished themselves in the field against non-Moslem enemies; thus it was conferred on Osman Pasha after his famous defence of Plevna in Bulgaria.
Two muslim rulers (in Afghanistan and Hyderabab)) personally used the subsidiary style Padshah-i-Ghazi.
Maghāzī literature
Maghāzī, which literally means "campaigns", is typically used within Islamic literature to signify the military campaigns conducted by the Prophet Muhammed during the post-Hijra phase of his career. The record of these campaigns, usually conducted as defensive measures against invaders or pre-emptive strikes against plotters, but involving traditional plundering, constitutes its own genre of prophetic biography within Islamic literature distinct from the sira. A famous example of the genre is the Maghāzī of al-Waqidi.
Operationally
When performed within the context of Islamic jihad warfare, the ghazw's function was to weaken the enemy's defenses in preparation for his eventual conquest and subjugation. Because the typical ghazw raiding party often did not have the size or strength to seize military or territorial objectives, this usually meant sudden attacks on weakly defended targets (e.g. villages) with the intent of terrorizing/demoralizing their inhabitants and destroying material which could support the enemy's military forces. Though rules of war in Islam's rules of warfare offered protection to non-combatants such as women, monastics and peasants (in that, generally speaking, they could not be slain), their property could still be looted or destroyed, and they themselves could be abducted and enslaved (Cambridge History of Islam, p. 269):
- The only way of avoiding the onslaughts of the ghāzīs was to become subjects of the Islamic state. Non-Muslims could then enjoy the status of dhimmīs, living under its protection. Most Christian sources confuse these two stages in the Ottoman conquests. The Ottomans, however, were careful to abide by these rules... Faced with the terrifying onslaught of the ghāzīs, the population living outside the confines of the empire, in the 'abode of war', often renounced the ineffective protection of Christian states, and sought refuge in subjection to the Ottoman empire. Peasants in open country in particular lost nothing by this change.
- Cambridge History of Islam, p. 285
A good source on the conduct of the traditional ghazw raid are the medieval Islamic jurists, whose discussions as to which conduct is allowed and which is forbidden in the course of warfare reveal some of the practices of this institution. One such source is Averroes' Bidāyat al-Mujtahid wa-Nihāyat al-Muqtasid (translated in Peters, Jihad in Classical and Modern Islam: A Reader, Chapter 4).
Related terms
- akinji: raider, a later replacement for ghāzī
- al-'Awāsim: the Syrio-Anatolian frontier area between the Byzantine and various caliphal empires
- ribāt: fortified convent used by a militant religious order; most commonly used in North Africa
- thughūr: an advanced/frontier fortress
- uj: Turkish term for frontier; uj begi (march lord) was a title assumed by early Ottoman rulers; later replaced by serhadd (frontier)
Contemporary usage
Chechnya
During the Second Chechen War, Chechnya announced gazawat against Russia.
Islamic terrorism
With its use to denote the July 7th London bombings in a statement claiming responsibility for the attacks, term ghazw became associated with contemporary Islamic terrorism.
The degree of resemblance between the two phenomena is a contentious issue. Among the key differences are Islamic terrorism's lack of discrete military function (i.e. territorial conquest) within the purview of a Muslim state, and its failure to obey certain traditional Islamic rules of warfare, including prohibitions against attacks on non-combatants. Yet these prohibitions were never understood as absolute by the classical jurists, who often conceived of them in conditional/prudential terms (see Averroes' Bidāyat). In any case attacks to demoralize/terrorize the enemy were allowed, and in its adoption of this function Islamic terrorism's resemblance to the traditional ghazw is greatest.
See also
Sources and references
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty|title=(help)- RoyalArk- Ottoman Turkey
- "Ghazw". (CD-ROM v. 1.0 ed.). 1999.
{{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty|title=(help); Unknown parameter|ency=ignored (help) - "Ghāzī". (CD-ROM v. 1.0 ed.). 1999.
{{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty|title=(help); Unknown parameter|ency=ignored (help) - Lewis, Bernard (1991). The Political Language of Islam. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0226476936., p. 74
- Firestone, Reuven (1999). Jihad: The Origins of Holy War in Islam. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195125800., p. 34
- Peters, Rudolph (1996). Jihad in Classical and Modern Islam: A Reader. Markus Wiener Publishers. ISBN 1558761098.
- Averroes, Bidāyat al-Mujtahid wa-Nihāyat al-Muqtasid
- Wittek, Paul; & Heywood, Colin, translator (2002). The Rise of the Ottoman Empire. Curzon Press. ISBN 0700715002.
{{cite book}}:|author=has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - Holt, Peter M., ed. (1970). The Cambridge History of Islam: Volume 1, The Central Islamic Lands. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 052107567X.
{{cite book}}:|author=has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - Robinson, Chase (2002). Islamic Historiography. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521629365.
