Notes on Costume from Arabic Sources

Reuben Levy

doi:10.1017/S0035869X00086494

Notes on Costume from Arabic Sources

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 March 2011

Reuben Levy

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Dozy's Dictionnaire des Noms des Vêtements long ago settled the meanings of the great majority of the terms used for clothes and clothing in Arabic. Texts not available at the time of its compilation have come to hand in the meanwhile, and, further, something still remains to be said on the social and historical aspects of the subject.

Type: Articles
Information: Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society , Volume 67 , Issue 2 , April 1935 , pp. 319 - 338

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0035869X00086494 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © The Royal Asiatic Society 1935

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^{page 319 note 1} In the margins of the late Professor W. Robertson Smith's copy, now in the Library of Christ's College, there are a number of notes in his hand. Some of them have been used here and are marked by the initials” W. R. S.”

^{page 319 note 2} Ibn Sa'd, I, i, 151 f.

^{page 319 note 3} Md. Zayn al-'Ābidīn al-'Umarī, Kitāb al-Ṭuruz (B.M. MS. Or. 11, 259 (2)), f. 49a.

^{page 320 note 1} Ya'qūbī, , Historiæ (ed. Houtsma, ), ii, 97 fGoogle Scholar.

^{page 320 note 2} Ibn Sa'd, I, ii, 148, 11. 26 f.

^{page 320 note 3} Rāghib, , Kitāb al-Muḥāḍara (Cairo, 1287), ii, 211 (W. R. S.)Google Scholar.

^{page 320 note 4} Cf. Ṭabari, i, 2142, 1. 11, where Abu Bakr is reported to have worn them to lead the prayer.

^{page 320 note 5} Cf. ibid., iii, 452. The statement is here made that the chiefs of the Hashimis wore theirs in a distinctive “rose”-colour.

^{page 320 note 6} Rāghib, ii, 208. Cf. Farazdaq, , Naqā'iḍ (ed. Bevan, ), ii, 546, 1. 3Google Scholar.

^{page 320 note 7} The verb used ia “to tie” (Naqā'iḍ, iii, 719); for removal, The close-fitting character of the garment would appear to be indicated by the tradition which declares it to be a useful thing to be wearing during an outbreak of fire (Rāghib, ii, 212).

^{page 320 note 8} Ibn Sa'd, I, ii, 153.

^{page 320 note 9} Ibn Sa'd, I, ii, 154, 11. 23 f.

^{page 320 note 10} Ibn Qutayba, Adab al-Kâtib (Cairo, 1300), p. 68Google Scholar.

^{page 320 note 11} Ya'qūbī, loc. cit.

^{page 321 note 1} Naqa'iḍ, iii, 719.

^{page 321 note 2} Aghānī, ix, 98, 1. 8.

^{page 321 note 3} Ibn Qutayba, 'Uyūn, i, 299.

^{page 321 note 4} Rāghib, op. cit., ii, 212.

^{page 321 note 5} Aghānī, iv, 68, 1. 7; xiii, 131, 1. 19 and 159, 1. 16.

^{page 321 note 6} Ibid., iv, 62. (They might, of course, wear other costume too. Cf. ibid., v, 64.)

^{page 321 note 7} iii, 2122.

^{page 321 note 8} Cf. note 5, supra.

^{page 321 note 9} Ibn Qutayba, Uyūn, i, 301; cf. Naqā'iḍ, p. 547, 1. 3.

^{page 321 note 10} Ibn Sa'd, VII (ii), 133,1. 6.

^{page 321 note 11} Ṭabarī, i, 2736; K. al-Ṭuruz, ff. 646, 65a.

^{page 322 note 1} Tanūkhī, Nishwār, 29 f.

^{page 322 note 2} Cf. Aghāni, xiv, 3, 1. 3 (W. R. S.).

^{page 322 note 3} Ibn Sa'd, I, ii, 152.

^{page 322 note 4} Ibid., VII, ii, 15.

^{page 322 note 5} Ibid., I, ii, 154.

^{page 322 note 6} Al-Fakhrī (ed. , Ahlwardt), 89Google Scholar. Early in Islam the tucked-up shirt became the mark of the fanatic and the Khārijī. Cf. Wensinck, , The Muslim Creed, p. 41Google Scholar.

^{page 322 note 7} Ibn Qutayba, 'Uyūn, i, 298.

^{page 322 note 8} Ibid., i, 301. That, at any rate, was the rule for everyday garments: the robe of honour was privileged (Rāghib, op. cit., ii, 210).

^{page 322 note 9} ix, 405 (W. R. S.).

^{page 322 note 10} Aghānī, xv, 71, 1. 9.

^{page 323 note 1} Naqā'iḍ, 584, 1. 14.

^{page 323 note 2} Ibn al-Athīr, v, 2 f.

^{page 323 note 3} Ibn Qutayba, 'Uyūn, i, 298.

^{page 323 note 4} Ibn Abi Uṣaybi'a, i, 139. The generally voluminous character of the miṭraf—possibly also its expensiveness—is implied by the fact that it was taken off by a man (Agh., xiii, 132,1. 6) (W. R. S.).

^{page 323 note 5} See infra.

^{page 323 note 6} Rāghib, ii, 208.

^{page 323 note 7} Ibid., ii, 209.

^{page 323 note 8} Ibn al-Athīr, v, 2.

^{page 324 note 1} Aghānī, vi, 141.

^{page 324 note 2} It was open in front. When a man tears his qamiṣ from the opening below the neck (the jayb) to the foot it becomes a qabā' (Agh. vii, 134) (W. R, S.).

^{page 324 note 3} Ibn Sa'd, v, 297, 11. 20 f. Cf. Rāghib, ii, 207 ad fin., where the list is given as qamīs, sarāwīl, qalansuwa, khuffān (top-boots), and turban.

^{page 324 note 4} Aghānī, i, 24 ad fin.

^{page 324 note 5} It was frequently known simply as (e.g. in Yāqūt, Irshād, vi, 59). Cf. Dozy, Supplément s.v.

^{page 324 note 6} Mahdūda(Mas'ūdī, Murūj, viii, 377).

^{page 324 note 7} Ya'qūbī, , Historiæ, ii, 97 fGoogle Scholar.

^{page 324 note 8} Aghānī, xv, 71.

^{page 324 note 9} Fragmenta Hist. Arab., p. 7.

^{page 324 note 10} Aghānī, ii, 121, 1, 7.

^{page 325 note 1} Jacob, G., Altarab. Beduinenleben, p. 237Google Scholar.

^{page 325 note 2} Cf. Ibn Sa'd, vi, 196, and vii (ii), p. 25, 1. 5.

^{page 325 note 3} Ṭabarī, iii, 1442.

^{page 325 note 4} Aghānī, ix, 121, 11.

^{page 325 note 5} Ibid., x, 123; Yāqūt, , Irshād, i, 373Google Scholar; Hamadānī, Badī' al-Zamān, Rasā'il (Beyrout, 1890), p. 168Google Scholar. In Ṭabarī (iii, 371) two verses satirizing the new fashion are quoted: “We had hoped for an increase from a (new) imam, and the chosen imam made an increase in qalansuwas; you see them reposing on men's skulls as though they were Jews' wine-jars wrapped in cloaks.” The last part of the verses indicates that the hat was worn with a turban wrapped round it.

^{page 325 note 6} Ṭabarī, iii, 709 ad fin.

^{page 325 note 7} Jāḥiẓ, , Bayān (Cairo, 1313), i, 41 fGoogle Scholar.

^{page 325 note 8} Mas'ūdī, , Murūj, viii, 302Google Scholar.

^{page 325 note 9} Ibid., vii, 401 f.

^{page 325 note 10} Ṭabarī, iii, 1012 f. The Caliph himself wore black on occasions of state. At other times the colour was a matter of individual taste. Mu'taṣim attired himself for polo in a vest of figured silk, a golden girdle, and red top-boots (Ṭabarī, iii, 1326). The green turban of Sayyids is late eighthfourteenth cent. Cf. Mez, , Renaissance des Islams, p. 59Google Scholar.

^{page 326 note 1} Kitāb al-Muwashshā, ed. Brunnow, , p. 124Google Scholar.

^{page 326 note 2} Ibid., p. 126.

^{page 326 note 3} The width is given as three spans (Mas'ūdī, , Murūj, vii, 402)Google Scholar.

^{page 326 note 4} Al-Fakhrī, 152.

^{page 326 note 5} Ṭabarī, iii, 627.

^{page 326 note 6} Yāqūt, , Irshād, i, 254Google Scholar.

^{page 326 note 7} Ibid., i, 399.

^{page 326 note 8} Yāqūt, , Irshad, vi, 56ad fin.Google Scholar

^{page 326 note 9} Ibn Abi Usaybi'a, i, 142.

^{page 326 note 10} Mas'udi, , Murūj, vi, 345Google Scholar.

^{page 326 note 11} Maqrīzī, , Khiṭaṭ, i, 390, 11. 6 ffGoogle Scholar.

^{page 327 note 1} Rāghib, ii, 210.

^{page 327 note 2} Yāqūt, op. cit., ii, 56; Al-Fakhrī, 298.

^{page 327 note 3} K. al-Muwashā, pp. 125, 127.

^{page 327 note 4} Ibn Qutayba, 'Uyūn, i, 301.

^{page 327 note 5} Ibid., p. 299.

^{page 327 note 6} Margoliouth, , Eclipse of the Abbasid Caliphate, i, 347Google Scholar.

^{page 327 note 7} Abu'l-Maḥāsin, ed. Juynboll, ii, 303; 'Arib, 182.

^{page 327 note 8} Al-Ṣābī, , K. al-Wuzarā, ed. , Amedroz, 176Google Scholar.

^{page 327 note 9} Yāqūt, , Irshād, ii, 320Google Scholar.

^{page 328 note 1} Tha'ālibī, , Yatīmat al-Dahr, iii, 34Google Scholar. In earlier and less sophisticated times a poet had to be content with two pieces only in his khil'a, and it was not until he wrote to his patron suggesting the second of those that he received it (Aghānī, vii, 21, 11. 12 f.)

^{page 328 note 2} Yāqūt, , Irstād, i, 38Google Scholar. A Bedouin being asked on a bitterly cold day why he did not say his prayers, replied that if Allah granted him a qamīṣ and a jubba he would pray until the end of time, but that he was not hardy enough to defy the cold in the solitary ‘aba’ he was wearing. (Rāghib, ii, 208.)

^{page 328 note 3} Ibn Sa'd, vi, 231, 11. 15 f.

^{page 328 note 4} Aghānī, xix, 131, 1. 17; Bukhārī, , Ṣaḥīḥ, i, 72, 10Google Scholar. It seems also to have been called khamīla (Muslim, i, 95).

^{page 328 note 5} Cf. further Margoliouth, , Early Development of Muhammadanism, p. 140Google Scholar.

^{page 328 note 6} Ibn Qutayba, 'Uyūn, i, 298. The woollen robe was worn in church by the officiant and not necessarily by ordinary lay Christians out of doors. Cf. Ibn Abi Uṣaybi'a, i, 240.

^{page 328 note 7} Ṭabarī, i, 2142, 11.

^{page 329 note 1} Ibid., i, 2736.

^{page 329 note 2} See Lane s.v., and cf. Ahlwardt, , Anonyme Arabische Chronik, xi (Greifswald, 1883), 162, 11. 7 f.Google Scholar, where it is reported that 'Uthmān said: “I saw myself taking my burnus and putting it over his (i.e. 'Abd al-Malik b. Marwān's) head.”

^{page 329 note 3} Suyūṭī, , Ta'rikh al-Khulafā, 98Google Scholar.

^{page 329 note 4} Ṭabarī, ii, 1177, last line.

^{page 329 note 5} , De Goeje, Fragmenta Hist. Arab., 107Google Scholar; Mas'ūdī, , Muruj, vii, 401 fGoogle Scholar.

^{page 329 note 6} , De Goeje, Fragmenta, p. 82.Google Scholar

^{page 329 note 7} Qalqashandī, iii, 274. Sulaymān b. 'Abd-al-Malik is said to have worn a green hulla and a turban of the same hue. (Al-Fakhrī, 153.)

^{page 329 note 8} Aghānī, vi, 141.

^{page 329 note 9} The change from black to green under Ma'mūn was purely temporary (Ṭab., iii, 1012 f.). When, many years later, Mu'tadid went into battle in a yellow qabā' and showing no black, the event excited great remark (Nishwār al-Muhādara, ed. Margoliouth, , 227)Google Scholar. When al-Qā'im put on white robes in similar circumstances it was only that they might be his shroud if he were killed (Ibn al-Athīr, x, 45).

^{page 330 note 1} From the fact that it could be worn by a succession of different wearers, it appears to have been a sleeveless cloak or shawl. (Cf. Qalqashandī, iii, 273.)

^{page 330 note 2} Aghānī, ix, 121.

^{page 330 note 3} Ibn Hishām, 889 f.; Nöldeke, , Delectus, 110 ffGoogle Scholar.

^{page 330 note 4} Mäwardī (ed. Enger), pp. 289 f.; , De Goeje, Fragmenta, p. 208Google Scholar; Qalqashandī, iii, p. 273. For further refs. see Goldziher, , Muhammedanische Studien, ii, p. 54, n. 5Google Scholar. According to G., the claim that the Umayyads had the burda was an invention of which the object was to authenticate the garment's origin.

^{page 330 note 5} Ṭabarī, iii, 455.

^{page 330 note 6} Ibid., iii, 545.

^{page 330 note 7} , De Goeje, Fragmenta, p. 283Google Scholar.

^{page 331 note 1} Ṭabarī, iii, 928, 1. 13 (a.h. 198).

^{page 331 note 2} Ṭabarī, iii, 1368; Ibn al-Athīr, vii, 22 f.

^{page 331 note 3} Mas'ūdī, , Murūj, viii, 302Google Scholar.

^{page 331 note 4} Ibid., viii, 169.

^{page 331 note 5} Ibid., viii, 377. The significance of headgear may be gathered from a remark made by the Niẓām al-Mulk to his Sultān, in which he said: “The stability of that qalansuwa is bound up with this ink-holder (the symbol of the vizier's office)” (Ibn al-Athīr, x, 138, ad fin.). See, further, Goldziher, , in Der Islam (1916), vol. vi, 301 ffGoogle Scholar.

^{page 331 note 6} 'Arīb, p. 182.

^{page 332 note 1} 'Arīb, 177.

^{page 332 note 2} Ibn al-Athīr, ix, 436. Bundārī, ed. Houtsma, p. 13. Goldziher has misread the passage in Bundārī, (Muh. Stud., ii, 54, n. 10)Google Scholar.

^{page 332 note 3} Ibn al-Athīr, x, 34.

^{page 332 note 4} Ibn al-Athīr, x, 428.

^{page 332 note 5} Bundārī, pp. 241 f.; Qalqashandī, iii, 274.

^{page 332 note 6} Qalqashandī, loc. cit.

^{page 332 note 7} History of the Caliphs, tr. Jarrett, H. S., p. 18Google Scholar.

^{page 332 note 8} iii, p. 280.

^{page 333 note 1} Mas'ūdī, , Murūj, vii, 365Google Scholar.

^{page 333 note 2} Quatremère, , Mamlouks, I, i, 133Google Scholar.

^{page 333 note 3} Ibn Iyās, ed. P. Kahle, vol. v, pt. 4 (Leipzig', 1931), p. 4,11. 9 f.

^{page 333 note 4} Ibn Iyās, v, iv, p. 143, 11. 5 ff.

^{page 333 note 5} An instance is quoted of a qādī who refused to wear black until he was warned that his failure to do so would be interpreted as a sign of adherence to the Umayyad cause (Kindī, ed. Guest, p. 469).

^{page 333 note 6} Ibn Jubayr (Gibb Series), p. 50.

^{page 333 note 7} Cf. Kindī, 378, 585 f. (The danniya in the latter instance was so long and limp that a litigant called it a khuff (top-boot). Cf. also Mas'ūdī, , Murūj, vii, 402Google Scholar; Hamadānī, Badī' al-Zamān, Basa'il (Beyrouth, 1890), p. 168.)Google Scholar The costume of a Basra qadi at his ease at home in the hot weather consisted of a mīzar (wrap), a light ridā' about his shoulders, cotton sandals, and a fan (Tanūkhi, , Nishwār, p. 116)Google Scholar.

^{page 334 note 1} Aghānī, v, 60; x, 123; Yāqūt, , Irshād, i, 373Google Scholar. Cf. JRAS. 1911, p. 669, n. 1.

^{page 334 note 2} Kindī, p. 460.

^{page 334 note 3} Quatremère, , Mamlouks, I, i, 133 fGoogle Scholar.

^{page 334 note 4} Juwayni, i, 65, 77.

^{page 334 note 5} Also taylisān and taylusān (cf. Lane, s.v.). It is derived from the Persian tālishān, and a variant of it is taylis (Persian tālish). It is probably the Hebrew tāllīth “the cloak of honour, the scholar's or officer's distinction” (Jastrow, Talmud Dictionary, s.v.).

^{page 334 note 6} Lane, , Arabian Nights, ii, 512Google Scholar, holds that it was “similar in origin to our own academic hoods and scarfs”.

^{page 334 note 7} A man wearing a “double” taylasān rolled it up when he stood (Aghānī, xiii, 132) (W. R. S.). From the context here it does not seem that the subject of the story had any claim to learning or other distinction.

^{page 334 note 8} Md. Zayn al-'Ābidīn, K. al-Ṭuruz (B.M. MS. Or. 11, 259), f. 64b. Cf. Aghānī, x, 123, 1. 22 f., where the story is told of a qadl who, having had his qalansuwa removed by a trick in the mosque, covered his head with his taylasān.

^{page 334 note 9} Rāghib, ii, 209.

^{page 334 note 10} Md. Zayn al-'Ābidīn, op. cit., f. 646.

^{page 335 note 1} Cf. Ṭabarī, iii, 627.

^{page 335 note 2} Aghānī, v, 60, 109.

^{page 335 note 3} Cf. Ibn Khallikān (tr. de Slane), iv, 428 ff.; ed. Wuestenfeld, xi, 1299, No. 852. The general characteristics of the ordinary wearers of the hood are indicated by a verse which says that no horseman would wear one (Rāghib, ii, 207).

^{page 335 note 4} He says that it was rarely worn . Dozy, , Vêtements, p. 279Google Scholar, translates this by empesé (stiffened or starched); Lane, , on the other hand (s.v. taylasān, p. 1867)Google Scholar, renders by “having a piece cut out of the middle”.

^{page 335 note 5} Tanūkhī, (Nishwar, p. 17)Google Scholar in the same century records how Ibn al-Jaṣṣās, after suffering the extortion of a large fine, was consoled by a friend who reminded him that he was still the richest amongst the aṣhāb al-tayālis, a phrase which, according to the learned editor, must here mean “distinguished but non-official persons”. (See, in this connection, Margoliouth, , Eclipse, iii, 189.)Google Scholar

^{page 335 note 6} Maqdisī, p. 129.

^{page 335 note 7} Sharīshī on Ḥarīrī, , Maqāmāt, xxi (Būlāq, 1284, i, 361)Google Scholar, says it was a green cloak worn by persons of importance.

^{page 335 note 8} Maqdisī, p. 416.

^{page 335 note 9} Ibid., p. 327.

^{page 336 note 1} Ṭabarī, i, 2148, last line; Ya'qūbī, , Historiæ, ed. , Houtsma, ii, 158Google Scholar.

^{page 336 note 2} Ṭabarī, iii, 1605 f.

^{page 336 note 3} Ṭabari, iii, 2194. Uniforms for soldiers are not heard of until the formations of the standing bodyguards of “Turkish” mercenaries. (Cf. Qalqashandi, iii, 272, 1. 8; Margoliouth, , Eclipse, iii, 152.)Google Scholar

^{page 336 note 4} Ibn al-Athīr, a.h. 334.

^{page 336 note 5} Ibid., A.H. 449 (ix, 436); Qalqashandī, iii, 276.

^{page 337 note 1} Qalqashandī, loc. cit.

^{page 337 note 2} Even the 'Alid naqīb charged with official duties put on the colour of the ruling house. (Cf. al-Radī, Sharïf, Dīwān (Beyrouth, 1307), pp. 2, 929.)Google Scholar

^{page 337 note 3} Ibn al-Athīr, viii, 101, 150.

^{page 337 note 4} Tanūkhī, , Nishwār, 29 fGoogle Scholar.

^{page 337 note 5} Maqrīzī, , cited by De Sacy in Chrestomathie arabe (2nd ed.), i, 125Google Scholar.

^{page 337 note 6} Margoliouth, , Eclipse, i, 273Google Scholar; ii, 241. The belt was the , “a broad belt of leather adorned with jewels and worn by women” (Dozy, Vêtements, s.v.). The term is usually found in the dual , which is explained by the Arab dictionaries as the two parts which made up the belt (W. R. S.). A slave-girl of an Umayyad Caliph wore wishāhān of gold (Aghānī, iv, 62). But the double belt was also worn by the vizier (Ibn al-Athīr, vii, 120), in token, perhaps, of a double office, like the double necklace or collar worn by the heir-apparent of Mu'tazz (cf. p. 333 supra). Further, the victorious Muwaffaq was decorated by Mu'tazz with a diadem and a double wishāh (Murūj, vii, 369) as Afshīn before him had been for his success against Bābak (Murūj, 132 f.).

^{page 337 note 7} Tanūkhī, , Nishwār, pt. viii (B.M. MS. Or. 9586, f. 2b) (Revue de l'Academie arabe, Damascus, Nos. 1–2, 1930, p. 9)Google Scholar.

^{page 338 note 1} Ṭabarī, iii, 544.

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