著者

松永 泰行

出版者

一般社団法人 日本オリエント学会

雑誌

オリエント (ISSN:00305219)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.42, no.2, pp.61-79, 1999 (Released:2010-03-12)

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Wilayat-i Faqih (henceforth, WF) as a doctrine justifying the rulership of a faqih was developed almost single-handedly by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (1902-1989) during his exile in Najaf. This doctrine constituted the core of his revolutionary call for the establishment of an Islamic polity by the clerics. After the victory of the Iranian Revolution of 1979 and the adoption of a constitution incorporating the doctrine of WF, the claim that a faqih as “wali-yi amr” has the God-given right to rule the society and that the people must give obedience to him became a matter of real-world significance. This led not only to the heightened efforts to promote the doctrine but also to further theorization and the resultant different interpretations.The key question then became: by whose sanction is the faqih entitled to such commanding authority? On this question (which is technically called the issue of mansha'-i mashru'iyat-i WF), two opposing views were developed among the disciple-followers of Imam Khomeini. They were the intisabi (or mashru'iyat-i ilahi-yi bila-wasitah) view on the one hand, and the intikhabi (or mashru'iyat-i ilahi-mardumi) one on the other, and it was the former that has prevailed.The purpose of this article is two-fold: first to examine the original doctrine of WF as advocated by Ayatollah Khomeini in Najaf in the early years of the 1970s; then to examine the two opposing views —-intisabi and intikhabi— on the source of the legitimacy of WF which were developed in Iran after the establishment of the Islamic Republic there. The article ends with some comparison and critical analysis of the two views.

著者

梅田 輝世

出版者

The Society for Near Eastern Studies in Japan

雑誌

オリエント (ISSN:00305219)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.17, no.1, pp.59-80,145, 1974

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In the first half of the 12th century, the Fâtimid dynasty in Egypt hastily changed her course on the decline through the domestic discords and the invasion of the crusades, but we have few historical materials on that period and it is not elucidated sufficiently yet.<br>Usâma ibn Munqidh (1095-1188) was an eminent warrior and man of letters, paticularly a poet, keeping friendly relations with Caliphs, Wazîrs, Amîrs and Francs in Syria, Egypt in those days. His memoirs, <i>kitâb al-I'tibâr</i>, give us valuable sources in elucidating this age.<br>By his memoirs, we can see many phases of Arabic society itself and those of military and cultual contacts between the Islamic world and Europe in those days, such as the living forms of Syrian amîrs and their civic life including hawking and methods of medical treatment, various forms of war and diplomacy, and the hasty changes of conflicting interests at home and abroad among Arabic powers, Frankish powers and the Byzantine empire.

著者

矢口 直英

出版者

一般社団法人 日本オリエント学会

雑誌

オリエント (ISSN:00305219)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.58, no.2, pp.211-223, 2016-03-31 (Released:2019-04-01)

参考文献数

27

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While Questions on Medicine (Al-Masāˀil fī al-ṭibb) is generally known as a work of Ḥunayn ibn Isḥāq (d. 873), sources inform us that it was completed by his nephew and pupil Ḥubaysh ibn al-Ḥasan who made the additions that now comprise the latter part of the work. An important question that remains unanswered is where exactly the additions by Ḥubaysh begin. This article attempts to shed some light on this question through an examination of the structure and the sources of the sixth chapter of the work, the last question of which has traditionally been held to be where the additions by Ḥubaysh start.   The author of Chapter Six uses arguments taken from Galen and the Alexandrian Compendia (Jawāmiˁ) of Galenic works. The first part of the chapter contains sentences that closely parallel the summary of Galen's On the Temperament, Book III, as found in the Jawāmiˁ. The second part is composed essentially of citations from Galen's On the Properties of Simple Medicaments, Books I and IV. The close resemblance of this part to the Galenic treatise suggests that the author wrote it by translating the Greek text himself. The rest of the chapter, with the exception of the last question, is heavily dependent on On the Composition of Medicaments according to Kind, Books I and II.   The style of argument in the chapter is different from the question-and-answer style used in the earlier chapters. The contents of the chapter closely reflect those of the above-mentioned pharmaceutical works of Galen. The expressions used in this chapter are characteristic of Ḥubaysh There is also a tradition that tells us that Ḥubaysh's contribution begins in the middle of Chapter Five. These considerations lead us to conclude that Chapter Six of Questions on Medicine was written by Ḥubaysh and not by Ḥunayn.

著者

手島 勲矢

出版者

一般社団法人 日本オリエント学会

雑誌

オリエント (ISSN:00305219)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.38, no.1, pp.33-44, 1995-09-30 (Released:2010-03-12)

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Textual criticism of the Hebrew Bible is often described as requiring both “scientific” and “artistic” qualities in balance. However rigorously one conducts the weighing of essential data of manuscripts and witnesses and accounts for variants by textual principles, it is impossible to prove scientifically every textual decision one makes; it is particularly frustrating when one faces equally probable variants of MT, LXX, and the Qumran evidence, where any preference for one reading or another is arbitrary. This paper will argue that, in such a case, knowledge of early biblical interpretation can equip textual critcs with additional means to grade such ancient variants.For the proposed study I will use exegetical material from rabbinic and Second Temple texts to help determine what is a pristine reading and what are scribal variants. In particular, choosing a problematic biblical account of David and Bathsheba's incident, I will focus on textual variants of LXX (Lucianic and non-Lucianic readings), Targum, MT, and 4QSam concerning three specific parts of 2Sam 11: 2, 4: 1)_??__??__??__??__??_2)_??__??__??_3)_??__??__??_. Examining how these parts determine the understanding of the story as a whole in midrashim, a Talmudic discourse, Josephus' Jewish Antiquities, and the Damascus Document, and suggesting specific concerns of early biblical exegetes about these parts, I will try to show how the concerned variants address themselves to these exegetical concerns. In this way, the study proposes to determine the degree of tendentiousness in each variant, which will be a guideline to sort out a superior reading.Thus, the paper will not only stimulate fundamental thoughts as to the present practices of textual criticism but also expose the richness of early biblical interpretation of the biblical account in the exegetical problems as well as the solutions.

著者

蔀 勇造

出版者

一般社団法人 日本オリエント学会

雑誌

オリエント (ISSN:00305219)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.35, no.2, pp.156-177, 1992 (Released:2010-03-12)

著者

小林 一枝

出版者

学術雑誌目次速報データベース由来

雑誌

オリエント (ISSN:00305219)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.39, no.1, pp.127-148, 1996

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The purpose of this paper is to examine the inconsistency between the story of <i>Sindbad the Sailor and the illustration of the Old Man of the Sea</i>. This miniature, which is supposed to depict <i>the Old Man of the Sea and Sindbad the Sallor</i>, does not belong to the manuscript on the so-called &ldquo;The Arabian Nights (Alf Layla wa-Layla)&rdquo;, but is an astrological work by Ab&uuml; M&acirc;'shar al-Balkh&icirc; kept in the Bodleian Library in Oxford (Ms. Or. 133). This manuscript <i>Kit&acirc;b al-Bulh&acirc;n</i>, which was copied in 1399, consists of 176 folios with 83 miniatures, and the illustrations were painted during the reign of the last ruler of the Jal&acirc;yrid dynasty, Ahamad ibn Uways (ruled 1382-1410). These miniatures could be classified into six parts according to their contents, and the illustration in question belongs to the legendary part. However, it has no text but only the inscription &ldquo;shaykh al-bahr (the old man of the sea) wa&hellip;&rdquo;. Therefore, T. W. Aronld and the author of the monograph <i>Il Kit&acirc;b al-Bulh&acirc;n di Oxford</i>, Stefano Carboni insisted that the story of <i>Sindbad the Sailor</i> lies in the background of this illustration.<br>It is indeed that several miniatures in the part originated in the legend of <i>Sindbad the Sailor or Sindbad cycle</i>, however, the figure of the old man is definitely inconsistent with the story. The lower half of his body was depicted fish-tailed. To conclude the story, he would need his own strong legs. The same type of the illustration can be recognized in MS. suppl. turc 242 (fol. 79v.) kept in Biblioth&egrave;que Nationale in Paris.<br>From the aspect of literary history, it is clear that the fabulous monster <i>the Old Man of thd Sea</i> originated as a Persian (or Indian) monster <i>Duw&acirc;l-P&acirc;</i>. Lane, one of the translators of &ldquo;The Arabian Nights&rdquo;, argued that this fabulous monster was inspired from an orangoutan, or as the curious island people mentioned in <i>Kit&acirc;b 'Aj&acirc;'ib al-Makhl&ucirc;q&acirc;t by Qazw&icirc;n&icirc;</i>, thus, the name <i>the Old Man of the Sea</i> itself was not so important.<br>From the view point of art history, the figures of these monsters were completely different from that of <i>the Old Man of the Sea</i> on Or. 133.<br>Tracing the term to its origin, as M. Gerhardt mentioned, it seemed to be derived from the Greek, <i>halios ger&ocirc;n</i>. Consequently, the study of the history of the illustrations of <i>halios ger&ocirc;n</i> made it clear that the miniature painter who depicted the folio referred to the traditional figure of <i>the Old Man of the Sea</i> which had been spread all over the Mediterranean world since ancient time.

著者

岡崎 正孝

出版者

一般社団法人 日本オリエント学会

雑誌

オリエント (ISSN:00305219)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.27, no.2, pp.69-82, 1984 (Released:2010-03-12)

被引用文献数

1

著者

大津 忠彦

出版者

一般社団法人 日本オリエント学会

雑誌

オリエント (ISSN:00305219)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.47, no.1, pp.86-95, 2004-09-30 (Released:2010-03-12)

参考文献数

5

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Mr. Kakizaki Hisashi (1902-84), famous for his many technical innovations and his acquisition of many patents for machines making silk fabrics, was dispatched to Iran by the United Nations as a technical guidance expert. In 1963, when he played an active part in Gilan Province, he had the opportunity to witness clandestine digging at Sirkuh, a village situated at the foot of Dalfak mountain (Kuh-e Dalfak) on the east bank of the Sefidrud river (Sefid rud).As is well known in connection with “Amlash objects”, many precious objects of cultural heritage, found in the vicinity by clandestine digging, had flowed abroad from Iran at that time. According to the Kakizaki's inquiries, pot-hunters dug so many ancient graves at great speed that they changed radically the form of geographical features.His field notes with pictures contain not only the archaeological objects but also his detailed observation of the character of the ancient structures where the objects were discovered in situ. And Kakizaki's report about stratigraphical character observed on the section of ancient graves are comparable with the results from our general survey. His sharp observation seems to have been based on an innate ability to understand what he saw. Moreover, scientific archaeological investigation which started at that time in this area would have reminded him of how ruins were investigated earlier in Japan.Regretfully, clandestine digging of ancient sites is still one of the serious social problems in Iran today. Also, various community developments are obliterating many ancient ruins which are relatively inconspicuous, one after another. The damage to the cultural heritage of Iran which Kakizaki wrote down in his note is not a past occurrence but a serious contemporary phenomenon.

著者

苗村 卓哉

出版者

一般社団法人 日本オリエント学会

雑誌

オリエント (ISSN:00305219)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.53, no.1, pp.31-57, 2010-09-30 (Released:2014-03-31)

参考文献数

12

被引用文献数

1 1

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It is believed that the ʿarḍ was a customary "presentation” by young students of memorized texts before shaykhs (scholars). However, notwithstanding its circulation at least throughout the Eastern Arab World in the Late Middle Ages, the ʿarḍ has scarcely been discussed, with the exception of E. M. Sartain’s biographical study of Jalāl al-Dīn al-Suyūṭī (d. 1505), which claimed that the ʿarḍ was a kind of entrance examination which qualified the young student for higher education at a madrasa. This article examines the ʿarḍ in the Eastern Arab World during the 15th and 16th centuries, mainly relying on two biographical works attributed to Shams al-Dīn ibn Ṭūlūn (d. 1546), i.e., his autobiography al-Fulk al-Mashḥūn and his biographical dictionary Mutʿat al-Adhhān. It uses two different approaches. Firstly, it gleans examples pertaining to the ʿarḍ from these works and notes general characteristics of the ʿarḍ, focusing on the three factors of the ʿarḍ, i.e., presenters, texts, and shaykhs. Secondly, it analyzes several of the phrases in the “ijāzas of the ʿarḍ”, which the shaykhs issued to presenters. This article concludes that: 1. Most of the presenters were young students about 11 to 16 years old. Nevertheless, the ʿarḍ as such had nothing to do with entrance to the madrasas. Some of presenters had already started learning from scholars at the madrasas before their ʿarḍ. 2. Most of the texts were general works. Yet the selection of the texts was left up to the discretion of each presenter. 3. Presenters especially hoped to be recognized by “eminent” shaykhs. Therefore, jurisprudential differences between the presenters and the shaykhs did not affect the value of the ʿarḍ. 4. The “ijāzas of the ʿarḍ” were not licenses to teach subjects or works but were just certificates of proficiency. Therefore, some historical sources do not even consider them to be ijāzas.

著者

三笠宮 崇仁

出版者

一般社団法人 日本オリエント学会

雑誌

オリエント (ISSN:00305219)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.5, no.2, pp.27-44, 1962-09-30 (Released:2010-03-12)

著者

月本 昭男

出版者

一般社団法人 日本オリエント学会

雑誌

オリエント (ISSN:00305219)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.24, no.1, pp.34-48, 1981-09-30 (Released:2010-03-12)

被引用文献数

1

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There are two types of divination by means of birds in Ancient Mesopotamia. The first one is auspicium, namely the practise of divining the future by the observation of the flight and behaviour of birds. We have more than 350 kinds of such omina in texts of relatively good condition.As to the relation between protases and apodoses in these omina, we can find out at least three principles which explain the reason why a positive apodosis results from a certain protasis, and a negative from another:1. principle of metaphor; an example: “if a falcon puts a raven to death the king will win over his enemy” because the falcon is compared to the king, and his enemy to the raven.2. principle of association; an example: the appearance of a black (gi6) bird wakes an association of an eclipse (an. gi6) in the future.3. principle of the dichotomy of space; an example: the existence of a falcon at the right side of a man divines a favourable future for him, while the same falcon at the left side means a malicious one.Several protases which seem extremely unlikely to happen in reality must be interpreted as the products of the imagination.The second type is concerned with the physical peculialities of sacrificial birds. There has been a discussion among scholars about “a bird” (mušen=issuru) in certain types of ominous texts. Owing to the courtesy of Mrs. G. A. Matheson, the Keeper of Manuscripts of the John Rylands Library (Manchester), we published here one more late OB text of such a type which reports the observation of “a bird”.

著者

高井 啓介

出版者

一般社団法人 日本オリエント学会

雑誌

オリエント (ISSN:00305219)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.49, no.2, pp.1-21, 2006 (Released:2010-03-12)

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The Old Babylonian Sumerian letters have been divided into three types, archival letter-orders, literary letters, and a particular group of literary letters referred to as “Gottesbriefe” or “letter-prayers.” As these terms imply, this third group includes letters addressed to various deities, that is, prayers in letter-form.The “Gottesbriefe” usually have a lengthy opening salutation, continue with a brief self-introduction of the letter-writer, and proceed to the body of the letter, which includes a complaint describing either the causes or the consequences of the letter-writer's suffering, together with a petition for protection or relief from the suffering. It should be strongly pointed out, however, that this formal character of “Gottesbriefe” is also shared by letters addressed to kings and others.The present writer particularly pays attention to the relationship between the opening salutation and the contents of the body of the letter. He proves that, both in the letters addressed to gods and those to kings, an elongated salutation apparently goes along with the inclusion of a “petition” in the body of the letter. If such relationship is true, there is no good reason to exclude the letters addressed to the kings and others from the group. However if the letters addressed to the kings and others are included in the same group, as those addressed to gods, that is the “letter-prayer” category, the term “letter prayers” is no longer an appropriate label. The present writer proposes that, if a label for this group is necessary, “letter of petition” should be adequate.The present writer also describes the probable course of the gradual transformation that the Old Babylonian Sumerian archival and literary letters experienced.

著者

岡田 明憲

出版者

一般社団法人 日本オリエント学会

雑誌

オリエント (ISSN:00305219)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.28, no.2, pp.66-77, 1985

著者

池田 潤 森 若葉

出版者

一般社団法人 日本オリエント学会

雑誌

オリエント (ISSN:00305219)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.50, no.2, pp.275-285, 2007 (Released:2010-03-12)

著者

前田 君江

出版者

一般社団法人 日本オリエント学会

雑誌

オリエント (ISSN:00305219)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.55, no.2, pp.33-52, 2013-03-31 (Released:2016-04-26)

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The purpose of this paper is to analyze the refrain patterns and their poetic functions in Ahmad Shāmlū’s (1925-2000) “In this Blind Alley” (1979) and his other poems.The refrain patterns found in poetry can be classified into five types: 1) perfect refrain, 2) incremental refrain, 3) mixed refrain, 4) refrain by another “voice,” and 5) double refrain. Incremental refrain involves the repetition of the same phrase, with one or a few words substituted, while mixed refrain is the repetition of perfect refrain along with a one-time repetition of its incremental version. The fourth type is not based on the repetition of a phrase, but rather on the inclusion of a voice that can be distinguished from the voice of main text of the poem. Finally, double refrain refers to the double use of perfect refrain and incremental refrain. This final type is the type found in “In this Blind Alley.”Arguably, three factors make it possible for the fear and warning that the poem expressed in the days of its creation to maintain a contemporary reading that addresses the situations we may be facing at any given moment.The first factor is its multiple levels of meaning. In his early works, we can see that Shāmlū’s refrain derives from his techniques of repetition. Each time the poetic phrase is repeated, it evokes deeper metaphors or makes another allusion.The second factor is ambiguity of the voice of the refrain. The refrain, with its high musicality and rhythm, is repeated in a symmetrical structure evocative of a chorus. This dissociates the voice of the refrain from the voice of narrator of the main text, who is often regarded as the poet himself.The third factor is the poetic function of the substitution of words in incremental refrains, and the interaction between these substitutions and the main text.

著者

藤井 守男

出版者

一般社団法人 日本オリエント学会

雑誌

オリエント (ISSN:00305219)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.29, no.2, pp.85-101, 1986 (Released:2010-03-12)

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This paper intends to analyze the philosophical speculation of Akhond-zade (1812-78) known not only as one of the earliest play wrights in Azerbaidzhan but also as a vigorous advocator of a reform of the Arabic alphabet. Although he was a government emploee of the Tzarist Russia, he keenly sympathized with Persian nationalists and their movement. In his highly controversial speculative work, the Maktubat-e Kamal al-Dowle, he severely criticized Islamic fanaticism (Ta'assob-e Eslami) as a main obstacle to the diffusion of Western Civilization, which he understood in an unrealistic manner. He also, in his work, shows a nationalistic heart harbouring anti-'Arab sentiments.He was admittedly a materialist: yet he took advantage of Persian mysticism, especially, its pantheistic monist concept of unity of existence to systematize his own claims. The world, according to him, is a total and complete Being, that is “Complete Force”, which manifests itself in diverse forms regulated by the law of Nature. Moreover, this complete force, he asserts, could be considered as an existence realized when a “whole” and a “part” are integrated, both of which have neither beginning nor end. There is no difference between them, for which he declares that they exist as one like a human body.Thus, nominally advocating the breakout of the “prison” of metaphysics, he developed this unique materialist “ontology”. It paved the way for denouncing the justice of the Quranic God and the Creator for the 'Arab as well.

著者

高野 太輔

出版者

一般社団法人 日本オリエント学会

雑誌

オリエント (ISSN:00305219)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.45, no.2, pp.133-147, 2002 (Released:2010-03-12)

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In 76 A. H./695 A. D., a Kharijite leader, Salih b. Musarrih al-Tamimi rebelled against the Umayyads in the region of Dara with the horsemen under the command of Shabib b. Yazid al-Shaybani. Although Salih was killed in the early stage of the revolt, Shabib succeeded him and led the remnants of the Kharijite forces through the region of al-'Iraq. The men who followed Shabib numbered barely over one hundred, because the “Kharijite” forces were mainly made up of his own tribesmen, Banu Shayban, in spite of their summoning the other Arabs to the faith. Al-Hajjaj b. Yusuf al-Thaqafi, the notorious governor of al-'Iraq, sent the Kufan troops one after another against Shabib whose army defeated all of them and rushed into the city of al-Kufah, killing those who prayed at the great mosque, and moved away up to the eastern mountainous district. In the next year the Kharijites invaded al-'Iraq again, defeated the army of fifty thousand men under the command of ‘Attab b. Warqa’ and camped outside the city of al-Kufah, facing al-Hajjaj himself there. But the Syrian troops who were sent by the caliph 'Abd al-Malik pushed them back and made Shabib drowned in his crossing the river of Dujayl at the end of 77/697.For all that the Kharijite rebels were regarded as fanatic extremists from the viewpoint of later Sunni Islam, the Arabic sources which narrate the course of the revolt seem to glorify them as mighty horsemen and fearless soldiers. This is because Shabib rebelled against the Umayyads, the enemy of the 'Abbasids who would overcome them and build a new dynasty under which the remaining Arabic chronicles and biographies were written.

著者

星野 陽

出版者

一般社団法人 日本オリエント学会

雑誌

オリエント (ISSN:00305219)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.11, no.3-4, pp.37-51,192, 1968 (Released:2010-03-12)

参考文献数

18

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It is a widely-known fact that Mithra, famed in Avestan Hymn (Yasht) is considered identical with Mithras, the God of War who waged a fierce religious contention against Christianity in the Mediterranean World at the end of the Ancient Period.Studies in this field, however, have largely been focused, as seen i n the study by Prof. Cumont, on the development of Mithraicism in the Roman World, and so far due attention has not been paid to the process of the formation of Mithraicism in the Orient. This is due, first, to the fact that the interest of Western historians has mainly been centered to elucidating Christian European Civilization, and therefore the study of Mithra, despite its connection with Christian European Civilization, has had to be confined both in time and area to the limited world of Rome at the end of the Ancient Period, and secondly it is due to linguistic and other osbtacles that one cannot avoid in the study of Orient Mithras.The study of the entire history of Mithraicism will become possible only when the unity of Orient and Latin worlds is successfully attained, but unfortunately the two worlds have remained separate without any interchange of inter-world study between Orient and Latin worlds.The proposed study into Mithra in Avestan Hymn is intended to give light upon the original nature of Mithraicism and also to inquire into the causes of the development of the religion during the period of more than 2, 000 years.Renan once said something to the effect that if any fatal hindrance had prevented Christianity from development, the world would have been under the rule of Mithra. This statement clearly suggests the important religious role played by Mithraicism in the Imperial Roman Period.As it is well-known, a great variety of religions of both Oriental and Occidental worlds flourished in the Ancient Mediterranean World. I deem it worth its while to look into the problems of Mithracism in its original nature, to which religion one often refers “an amalgam of religions in Iran, Babylonia-Greece and those of the Romans and the Hebrews”.

著者

岡崎 桂二

出版者

一般社団法人 日本オリエント学会

雑誌

オリエント (ISSN:00305219)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.35, no.2, pp.39-55, 1992 (Released:2010-03-12)

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The 'Abbasid revolution brought about a radical change in every corner of the society. In the literary field, poets tried to adapt themselves to the taste of the new urban society, especially of the newly established caliphal court. Through their efforts a highly rhetorical and ornate style in Arabic poetry was created, and this new style was named badi (literally—the New) by the Caliph poet, Ibn al-Mu'tazz. Badi' continued to exercise considerable influence both in composing and criticizing Arabic poetry.Bashshar b. Burd (c. 95-167A. H.) was noted for his particular attachment to figures of speech such as pun, metaphor and antithesis. Al-Jahiz regarded him as an originator of this new style. He was ethnically persian, socially mawali, religiously heretic, ideologically shu'ubi, and physically blind.In this paper the author investigates what Bashshar's stylistic features are, how he originated them, and how deeply the literary event was intertwined with the specific social and intellectual climate of his time.

著者

竹田 新

出版者

一般社団法人 日本オリエント学会

雑誌

オリエント (ISSN:00305219)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.26, no.2, pp.75-94, 1983 (Released:2010-03-12)

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In the Arabic geographical works the term “iqlim” appears frequently. According to Yaqut, an Arabic geographer, this word has four different meanings, i. e. (1) a region; (2) a large village in Andalusia; (3) a “kishwar”; and (4) a climate or a mathematically arranged climatic zone.The word “iqlim” is the Arabicized form of the Greek word “klima” which means a climate. This word was used first to indicate one of the seven climatic zones of the inhabited world. This usage corresponds to the stage of introduction by the Moslems of a foreign (i. e. Greek) concept. Then it came to be used as a word that signified the kishwar, a concept of Persian origin. The Persians conceived the whole world to be composed of seven circular kingdoms with their own as the center. Each of these seven kingdoms was called kishwar. The Persian view of the world resembled that of the Greek in that both of them divided the world into seven different units. Because of this similarity the Greek concept of “klima” came to be intermingled with the Persian concept of “kishwar”, both being expressed by the word “iqlim”. One can call this stage as the fusion of the two different concepts.Finally, the word “iqlim” was given a new meaning, namely a region. This meant more exactly a kind of administrative unit such as provinces or districts. A large village in Andalusia was also called an “iqlim”. The transformation of the connotation of the word expresses the process in which the fused notion of iqlim and kishwar evolved into an Islamic notion of administrative entity.Those who used the term “iqlim” to signify a climate were mainly the scholars of ‘the science of longitudes and latitudes’ such as al-Khuwarazmi, al-Farghani, al-Biruni, az-Zargali and at-Tusi. The writers who belonged to ‘the science of marvels of countries’ used the the term to denote the kishwar. Examples of these writers were Ibn al-Fagih, al-Mas'udi, Abu Hamid al-Gharnati and ad-Dimashgi. The scholars of ‘the science of roads and realms’ such as Ibn Khurdadhbih, al-Balkhi, al-Mugaddasi, al-Bakri and Abu ‘l-Fides’ used the word to mean regions or administrative units.A further explanation is provided by Yaqut about the seven climatic zones. He divides the inhabited world (i. e. the northern hemisphere of the globe) into seven climatic zones so that there are differences by thirty minutes from zone to zone in the length of the longest summer day. The zone nearest to the equator is named the first and the furthest the seventh. Then you have thirteen hours of day on the summer solstice in the first zone and sixteen hours in the seventh zone. (Some scholars such as al-Farghani and al-Biruni, on whom Yaqut himself relied, arranged the zones so that you have thirteen hours on the summer solstice in the middle line of the first zone. Another group of scholars such as al-Khuwarazmi adopted a different method according to which you have thirteen hours on the dividing line of the first and the second zones. The latter group belonged to a minority.)Yaqut also arranged various regions and cities in each climatic zone from the east to the west. This system of arrangement was also adopted by al-Farghani and al-Biruni. The works of these scholars had a great influence and Yaqut followed their example in his conspectus.