Ghazi (warrior)
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Ghazi (
In the context of the wars between Russia and the Muslim peoples of the Caucasus, starting as early as the late 18th century's Sheikh Mansur's resistance to Russian expansion, the word usually appears in the form gazavat (газават).[1][2] In English-language literature, the ghazw often appears as razzia, a borrowing through French from Maghrebi Arabic.
Ghazwa as raid—razzia
In pre-Islamic
The word razzia was used in French colonial context particularly for raids to plunder and capture slaves from among the people of Western and Central Africa, also known as rezzou when practiced by the Tuareg. The word was adopted from ġaziya of Algerian Arabic vernacular and later became a figurative name for any act of pillage, with its verb form razzier.[9]
Historical development
This section needs additional citations for verification. (May 2015) |
Ghazi (
Ghāzī warriors depended upon plunder for their livelihood, and were prone to
In the west, Turkic ghāzīs made continual incursions along the
As organizations, the ghazi corporations were fluid, reflecting their popular character, and individual ghāzī warriors would jump between them depending upon the prestige and success of a particular
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 [concerning the building of the Orhan, second ruler of the Ottoman line, describes himself as "Sultan, son of the Sultan of the Gazis, Gazi son of Gazi… frontier lord of the horizons."
Ottoman historian Ahmedi in his work explain the meaning of Ghazi:[10]
A Ghazi is the instrument of the religion of Allah, a servant of God who purifies the earth from the filth of polytheism. The Ghazi is the sword of God, he is the protector and the refuge of the believers. If he becomes a martyr in the ways of God, do not believe that he has died, he lives in beatitude with Allah, he has eternal life.
The first nine Ottoman chiefs all used Ghazi as part of their full throne name (as with many other titles, the nomination was added even though it did not fit the office), and often afterwards. However, it never became a formal title within the ruler's formal style, unlike Sultan ul-Mujahidin, 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 Nicopolisin 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[11] and on Mustafa Kemal Pasha (later known as Atatürk) for leading the victory in the Battle of the Sakarya.[12]
Some Muslim rulers (in Afghanistan) personally used the subsidiary style
Muhammad's Ghazwa
Ghazwah, which literally means "campaigns", is typically used by biographers to refer to all the Prophet's journeys from Medina, whether to make peace treaties and preach Islam to the tribes, to go on ʽumrah, to pursue enemies who attacked Medina, or to engage in the nine battles.[13]
Muhammad participated in 27 Ghazwa. The first Ghazwa he participated in was the
Operationally
When performed within the context of Islamic 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 demoralizing the enemy and destroying material which could support their military forces. Though Islam's rules of warfare offered protection to non-combatants such as women, monastics and peasants in that 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 acquired the status of 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).
Use in the modern era
In the 19th century, Muslim fighters in
PNS Ghazi was a Pakistan Armed Forces submarine.
After the
In modern Turkey, gazi is used to refer to veterans.[18] 19 September is celebrated as Veterans Day in Turkey.[19]
Notable examples
- Akbar the Great, 16th century, emperor and military commander from "Greater India".
Related terms
- Badishah: could be the king of the Ghaziunits.
See also
- Shi'a Islam
- Spread of Islam
- Islam
- Battle of Marj Dabiq
References
- ^ Kullberg, Anssi (1 Oct 2003). "The Background of Chechen Independence Movement II: The Sufi Resistance". The Eurasian Politician.
- ISBN 1-4289-1039-5pg. 6.
- ISBN 978-0-226-89428-7.
- ISBN 978-0-7189-0962-8.
- ISBN 978-0-7486-0847-8.
- ISBN 978-0-521-29135-4.
- ISBN 978-0-313-33734-5.
- ISBN 978-0-313-33734-5.
- ISBN 978-0-8014-5446-2.
- ^ Paul Wittek, (2013), The Rise of the Ottoman Empire: Studies in the History of Turkey, thirteenth–fifteenth Centuries Royal Asiatic Society Books, p. 44
- ^ public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Ghazi". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 11 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 916. One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the
- ISBN 978-0-521-21280-9, p. 357
- ISBN 9780230111608.
- ^ ASIN B0007JAWMK.
GHAZWAH OF AL-ABWA* Then (occurred) the ghazwah of the Apostle of Allah, may Allah bless him, at al-Abwa in Safar (August 623 AC)
- ISBN 978-0887063442,
In Safar (which began August 4, 623), nearly twelve months after his arrival in Medina on the twelfth of Rabi' al- Awwal, he went out on a raid as far as Waddan
- ISBN 978-0-333-68354-5.
- ^ Ibrahim, Ayman S. (16 November 2015). "4 ways ISIS grounds its actions in religion, and why it should matter (COMMENTARY)". Washington Post. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
- ^ "Gazi - Türk Dil Kurumu | Sözlük". sozluk.gov.tr (in Turkish). Retrieved 2020-01-31.
- ^ "Turkey commemorates veterans on Veterans Day - Turkey News". 19 September 2019.
Further reading
- "Ghazw". Encyclopedia of Islam (CD-ROM v. 1.0 ed.). Brill. 1999.
- "Ghāzī". Encyclopedia of Islam (CD-ROM v. 1.0 ed.). Brill. 1999.
- ISBN 0-226-47693-6., p. 74
- Firestone, Reuven (1999). Jihad: The Origins of Holy War in Islam. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-512580-0., p. 34
- Peters, Rudolph (1996). Jihad in Classical and Modern Islam: A Reader. Markus Wiener Publishers. ISBN 1-55876-109-8.
- Averroes, Bidāyat al-Mujtahid wa-Nihāyat al-Muqtasid
- ISBN 0-7007-1500-2.
- Holt, Peter M., ed. (1970). The Cambridge History of Islam: Volume 1, The Central Islamic Lands. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-07567-X.
- Robinson, Chase (2002). Islamic Historiography. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-62936-5.
- Rid, Thomas (2009). "Razzia: A Turning Point in Modern Strategy". Terrorism and Political Violence. 21 (4): 617–635. S2CID 143516589.
- Kaziev, Shapi. Imam Shamil. "Molodaya Gvardiya" publishers. Moscow, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2010. ISBN 978-5-235-03332-0
- Kaziev, Shapi. ISBN 978-5-98390-047-9
- Mohammed Bamyeh (2006). "The Nomands of Pre-Islamic Arabia". In ISBN 978-90-04-14792-8.