Cambridge and the University of Cambridge 145The Islamic calendar was also known as the hijrah
calendar. Year 1 was the year in which Muslims migrated
from MECCAto MEDINAor on July 16, 622 C.E., AL-HIJR.
The month was lunar with 29 or 30 days in a 12-month
sequence. The year was 354 days long. Holidays occur at
different times each year on a 33-year cycle; days run
from sunset to sunset.
See alsoBOOKS OF HOURS; CLOCKS AND TIME MEA-
SUREMENT; LABOR;LASTJUDGMENT; TIME.
Further reading:A. Allan McArthur, The Evolution of
the Christian Year (London: SCM Press, 1955); Azriel
Eisenberg, The Story of the Jewish Calendar (London:
Abelard-Schuman, 1958).
caliphate and caliph (khilafaand khalifa)The term
“caliph,”in Arabic khalifaor “successor,” was given to
the head of the Muslim community. The first caliph, ABU
BAKR, called himself khalifa rasul Allah,“successor of
GOD’s messenger,” soon abridged to khalifa or caliph.
The official title of these caliphs, from the second UMAR,
was amir al-muminin,“emir of the faithful,” indicating
that any caliph was both the spiritual and the temporal
head of the Muslim community. Supposedly elected but
without clear rules, the caliph was charged specifically
with applying Islamic law, or the sharia,and suppressing
doctrinal innovations. He was also required to lead Fri-
day PRAYERS, to protect the pilgrimage route to Mecca,
and to wage war or lead a JIHAD.UTHMAN(r. 644–656),
the third caliph, assumed the role of deciding the official
version of the QURAN. According to the theory of Sunni
jurists, he was chosen by the free choice of the commu-
nity who then swore an oath of allegiance to him. The
caliphs designated their heirs by a practice called antici-
pated election. A dynastic system was thus established
by the time of the UMAYYADS(660–749) and maintained
through the time of the ABBASIDS(749–1258). It was also
practiced by the FATIMIDS(909–1171), who tied their
sovereignty to a designation by the Prophet, not to any
choice by a community. During this period they took on
roles as semidivine potentates distant from their sub-
jects, but the head of a complex political structure. Mili-
tary subordinates, called sultans, dominated the
caliphate by the 10th century, with the caliphs serving
more or less as their puppets.
Further reading:C. E. Bosworth, The Islamic Dynas-
ties(Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1967); R.
Stephen Humphreys, Islamic History: A Framework for
Inquiry, rev. ed. (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University
Press, 1991); Hugh Kennedy, The Prophet and the Age of
the Caliphates: The Islamic Near East from the Sixth to the
Eleventh Century(New York: Longman, 1986).
calligraphy, Islamic(khatt)Islamic calligraphy was
the art and science of writing and committing to paper
various texts, sacred and secular, primarily in Arabic.
Arabic, a liturgical language and language of culture, was
sacred since the QURANwas revealed to the Prophet in
Arabic. Arabic writing hence had considerable prestige,
which increased with the Islamization of the empire. The
sacralization of the script explained why Arabic charac-
ters, adapted by Semitic languages, were used to write the
non-Semitic Iranian (Persian and Afghani) and Turkish
languages.
The calligraphy linked to this sacred script was an art
and a science. It benefited from a general use of PAPERin
Islam from the ninth century. In the 10th century the
mutual proportions of the letters began to be codified.
Numerous types of script developed according to their
uses for archives, charters, the Quran, letters, or works of
scholarship. Other types evolved according to region and
finally according to writing instrument and medium.
There were two common forms of Arabic script: an angu-
lar script for high-prestige manuscripts and noble use,
the Kufic, and a rounded cursive script in various styles
for more mundane documents.
Further reading:Martin Lings, The Quranic Art of
Calligraphy and Illumination (London: World of Islam
Festival Trust, 1976); Yasin H. Safadi, Islamic Calligraphy
(London: Thames and Hudson, 1978); Annemarie Schim-
mel, Calligraphy and Islamic Culture (New York: New
York University Press, 1984); Janine Sourdel-Thomine et
al., “Khatt,” Encyclopedia of Islam4.1113–1128; Anthony
Welch, Calligraphy in the Arts of the Muslim World
(Austin: University of Texas Press, 1979).Cambridge and the University of Cambridge
Medieval Cambridge was a city in east central England
with an important university. In the early Middle Ages it
gained importance because of a bridge on the River Cam.
In the latter half of the ninth century Cambridge was
overrun by the Danes several times, and, after a short
period of rule by ALFREDthe Great, it remained part of
the DANELAW and the administrative center of Cam-
bridgeshire. In the years following the Norman Conquest
in 1066 a castle was built near the town by WILLIAMI the
Conqueror. The city was granted a charter of privileges
by King HENRYI in 1122. During the period of anarchy
under King Stephen (r. 1135–54), Cambridge was a field
of battle. The town soon came to have an uneasy relation-
ship with its famous university.THE UNIVERSITY
Under HENRYII in the late 12th century the city flour-
ished as commercial, monastic, and cultural center.
Because of conflict among the scholars and students at
OXFORD in 1209, a number migrated to Cambridge,
where they founded a school. As did most medieval
universities, Cambridge dated its existence from no
formal act of foundation or certain date. In 1225 the
studiumor place of study at Cambridge had grown to