title: Silver Spring, Maryland

text: Stevie Nicks, of the band Fleetwood Mac has credited Silver Spring, Maryland as the inspiration for the title of the band's 1977 song "Silver Springs". In a 1998 interview, Nicks said "I wrote Silver Springs uh, about Lindsey [Buckingham]. And I ~ we were in Maryland somewhere driving under a freeway sign that said Silver Spring, Maryland. And I loved the name. ...Silver Springs sounded like a pretty fabulous place to me. And uh, 'You could be my silver springs...' that's just a whole symbolic thing of what you could have been to me."


title: Silver Spring, Maryland

text: The major roads in Silver Spring are mostly three- to five-lane highways. The Capital Beltway can be accessed from Georgia Avenue (MD 97), Colesville Road (US 29), and New Hampshire Avenue (MD 650).


title: Silver Spring, Maryland

text: The long-planned Intercounty Connector (ICC) (MD-200) toll road opened in three segments between February 2011 and November 2014. ICC interchanges in the Silver Spring area include Georgia Avenue, Layhill Road (MD-182), New Hampshire Avenue, Columbia Pike (US-29) and Briggs Chaney Road.


title: Silver Spring, Maryland

text: Silver Spring is serviced by the Brunswick Line of the MARC Train, Metrorail Red Line, Metrobus, Ride On, and the free VanGo. The bus terminal at the Silver Spring Rail Station is the busiest in the entire Washington Metro Area, and provides connections between several transit services, including those mentioned above. This transit facility serves nearly 60,000 passengers daily.


title: Silver Spring, Maryland

text: Construction commenced in October 2008 on the new $91 million Paul S. Sarbanes Transit Center, which will further expand the station to facilitate the growing demand for public transportation, due to the increase in population in the Silver Spring area. The new center is a multilevel, multimodal facility which incorporates Metrobus, Ride On, Metrorail, MARC train, intercity Greyhound bus, and local taxi services under one roof. The project was completed over four years behind schedule and $50 million over budget. The center opened on September 20, 2015.


title: Silver Spring, Maryland

text: The Purple Line light rail, under construction by the Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) is planned to service this station, connecting Silver Spring with Bethesda to the west and then running east to the University of Maryland-College Park and then southeast to the New Carrollton Metro station. The Purple Line is scheduled to open in 2026.


title: Silver Spring, Maryland

text: In addition to the Silver Spring station, the Washington Metrorail's Forest Glen station is also located in Silver Spring and the MARC train also stops at the nearby Kensington station.


title: Silver Spring, Maryland

text: Of the public high schools in the region, prior to 2010, Montgomery Blair High School was the only one within the census-designated place of Silver Spring. It is nationally recognized for its Communication Arts Program and its Science, Mathematics, and Computer Science Magnet Program, the latter of which perennially produces a large number of finalists and semi-finalists in such academic competitions as the Intel Science Talent Search.


title: Silver Spring, Maryland

text: Notable private schools in the region include The Siena School, the Yeshiva of Greater Washington, the Torah School of Greater Washington, and The Barrie School.


title: Silver Spring, Maryland

text: Saint Francis International School St. Camillus Campus, K–8, is in Silver Spring. It was formerly St. Camillus School, which was operated by sisters of Notre Dame de Namur and opened in 1954. In the middle of the 1960s it had up to 1,200 students. Working-class people were the main clientele. The student population was decreasing by the 1980s as working-class people moved from the area. By the same decade the teachers were mostly lay staff. In the decade of the 2000s the school's financial situation deteriorated. In 2010 the school had 260 students. It merged into Saint Francis International, which opened in 2010; at that time all teachers had to reapply for their jobs. In 2010 Saint Francis International had 435 students at all campuses. In 2014 it had 485 students at all campuses; over 70% the students were of parents born abroad.


title: Silver Spring, Maryland

text: A portion of the Montgomery College Takoma Park/Silver Spring campus is located within the Silver Spring boundary, with the rest of the campus located in Takoma Park. The community college is Montgomery County's main institute of higher education – the main campus is in the county seat of Rockville. Adjacent to the White Oak neighborhood in the outer reaches of Silver Spring is the campus of the National Labor College.


title: Silver Spring, Maryland

text: Howard University's School of Continuing Education is located in Silver Spring, with its main campus in nearby Washington, D.C..


title: Silver Spring, Maryland

text: Silver Spring Library started operation in 1931 and is one of the most heavily used in the Montgomery County System. It was relocated in June 2015 to Wayne Avenue and Fenton Street as part of the Downtown Silver Spring redevelopment plan.


title: Silver Spring, Maryland

text: The Silver Spring Saints Youth Football Organization has been a mainstay of youth sports in the town since 1951. Located in Silver Spring, Maryland, the Silver Spring Saints play home games at St. Bernadette's Church near Blair High School. The club was formed when two local Catholic parishes, St. John the Baptist and St. Andrews, merged their football programs to compete in the Capital Beltway League after the CYO (Catholic Youth Organization) for the Archdiocese of Washington D.C. discontinued its youth football program at the end of the 1994 season. The name "Saints" is derived from the merging of the two Catholic parishes. In 2009, the Saints moved from the Capital Beltway League (CBL) to the Mid-Maryland Youth Football & Cheer League (MMYFCL).


title: Silver Spring, Maryland

text: Silver Spring is also home to several swim teams, including Parkland, Robin Hood, Calverton, Franklin Knolls, Daleview, Oakview, Forest Knolls, Kemp Mill, Long Branch, Stonegate, Glenwood, Rock Creek, and Northwest Branch, Stonegate, Hillandale, and West Hillandale.


title: Silver Spring, Maryland

text: Silver Spring and Takoma Park together host Silver Spring-Takoma Thunderbolts a college wooden-bat baseball team playing in the Cal Ripken, Sr. Collegiate Baseball League. Home games are played at Montgomery Blair Stadium.


title: Silver Spring, Maryland

text: The Potomac Athletic Club Rugby team has a youth rugby organization based in Silver Spring. Established in 2005, PAC Youth Rugby has tag rugby for ages 5 to 15, girls and boys and also offer introduction to tackle rugby for U13 and U15 players. In addition to introducing numerous young athletes to the sport of rugby, PAC has also won Maryland state championships across the age groups.


title: Silver Spring, Maryland

text: Silver Spring is served by Washington, D.C. outlets such as the "Washington Post" and the "Washington Times". Several online outlets also cover local Silver Spring news, including Source of the Spring, "The Voice," and Silver Spring Patch. Eye On Sligo Creek covers nature and news along Sligo Creek. Silver Spring was served by "The Gazette" until it closed in June 2015 and by the "Montgomery County Sentinel" until it ceased publication in January 2020.


title: Silver Spring, Maryland

text: Several notable broadcasting companies currently have headquarters in Silver Spring, including Urban One. After relocating to New York City in 2018, Discovery Inc. sold its former Silver Spring headquarters to Foulger-Pratt and Cerberus Capital Management, and leased a smaller space at nearby 8403 Colesville Road.


title: Cadillac Records

text: Cadillac Records is a 2008 American biographical drama film written and directed by Darnell Martin. The film explores the musical era from the early 1940s to the late 1960s, chronicling the life of the influential Chicago-based record-company executive Leonard Chess, and a few of the musicians who recorded for Chess Records.


title: Cadillac Records

text: The film stars Adrien Brody as Leonard Chess, Cedric the Entertainer as Willie Dixon, Mos Def as Chuck Berry, Columbus Short as Little Walter, Jeffrey Wright as Muddy Waters, Eamonn Walker as Howlin' Wolf, and Beyoncé Knowles as Etta James. The film was released in North America on December 5, 2008, by TriStar Pictures. The soundtrack was released on Music World/Columbia and Sony Music.


title: Cadillac Records

text: In 1947 in Chicago, a Jewish immigrant from Poland and bar owner Leonard Chess (Adrien Brody) hires a blues combo, including guitarist Muddy Waters (Jeffrey Wright) and harmonica player Little Walter (Columbus Short). Waters' and Walter's success leads to Chess opening the doors for black musicians and beginning a new record label in 1950 – Chess Records. This attracts stars like Etta James (Beyoncé Knowles), Howlin' Wolf (Eamonn Walker) and Chuck Berry (Mos Def). Inevitably, business and personal lines blur as the sometimes-turbulent lives of the musicians play out.


title: Cadillac Records

text: Leonard Chess was the co-founder of the 1950s American record label Chess Records, located in Chicago, Illinois. He ran the legendary company with his brother, Phil, through the 1950s and '60s. The label started selling records from the back of Chess' Cadillac, and launched the careers of legendary musical personalities such as blues singers and harmonica and guitar players Little Walter and Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, soul legend Etta James and guitarist singer-songwriters Chuck Berry and Willie Dixon.


title: Cadillac Records

text: The screenplay was written by director Darnell Martin. The filming of "Cadillac Records" started in February 2008. Filming locations included Louisiana, Mississippi, and New Jersey. Martin directed the film, financed by Sony BMG Film. "Cadillac Records" was produced by Andrew Lack and Sofia Sondervan, and co-executive produced by Beyoncé Knowles.


title: Cadillac Records

text: Originally, Matt Dillon was slated to play the role of Chess, but the role was ultimately given to Adrien Brody due to scheduling conflicts with Dillon. Early announcements of the cast also included Columbus Short as Little Walter, Golden Globe winner Jeffrey Wright as Muddy Waters, and multi-Grammy Award winner Beyoncé as Etta James. According to director Martin, the role of James was written with Beyoncé in mind.


title: Cadillac Records

text: As production increased, the roster grew to include Canadian actress Emmanuelle Chriqui as Revetta Chess, Tammy Blanchard as Isabelle Allen, English actor Eamonn Walker as Howlin' Wolf, and comedian Cedric the Entertainer as Willie Dixon. Final line ups of the cast also grew to include rapper Mos Def as Chuck Berry, and Gabrielle Union in the role of Geneva Wade, Muddy Waters' common law wife.


title: Cadillac Records

text: The American multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and record producer Steve Jordan produced the soundtrack to the film. He also picked a group of blues musicians, including Billy Flynn (guitar), Larry Taylor (bass), Eddie Taylor Jr. (guitar), Barrelhouse Chuck (piano), Kim Wilson (harmonica), Danny Kortchmar (guitar), Hubert Sumlin (guitar), and Bill Sims (guitar) who, along with Jordan on drums, recorded all of the blues songs used in the film.


title: Cadillac Records

text: Beyoncé recorded five songs for the soundtrack, including a cover version of Etta James' "At Last" which was released on December 2, 2008 as its lead single. Mos Def, Jeffrey Wright, Columbus Short, and Eamonn Walker recorded songs for the soundtrack, and Raphael Saadiq, Beyoncé's sister Solange, Mary Mary, Nas, Buddy Guy, and Elvis Presley also appear on the album. The soundtrack was released in single and double-disc editions.


title: Cadillac Records

text: The month after the film was released, Beyoncé performed "At Last" at the inauguration ball of Barack Obama, as he and wife Michelle danced together for the first time as President and First Lady.


title: Cadillac Records

text: The soundtrack was nominated for three 2010 Grammy Awards in the following categories: Best Compilation Soundtrack Album for Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media, Beyoncé's "Once in a Lifetime" for Best Song Written for Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media and Beyoncé's "At Last" for Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance.


title: Cadillac Records

text: The film had its world premiere on November 24, 2008, at the Egyptian Theatre in Los Angeles. On December 5, 2008, it entered general release in the United States. On its opening weekend, the film opened at Number 9, grossing $3.4 million in 686 cinemas with an $5,023 average. When the film left cinemas in January 2009, it had yet to recoup its $12 million budget; it ended its run with a worldwide box office gross of $8,880,045.


title: Cadillac Records

text: Rotten Tomatoes reports that 66% of 124 critics gave the film a positive review, with an average rating of 6.1/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "What "Cadillac Records" may lack in originality, it more than makes up for in strong performances and soul-stirring music." Another review aggregator, Metacritic, gave the film a weighted average score of 65 out of 100, based on 30 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".


title: Cadillac Records

text: Roger Ebert of the "Chicago Sun Times" gave the film three stars and stated in his review that "The film is a fascinating record of the evolution of a black musical style, and the tangled motives of the white men who had an instinct for it." Elizabeth Weitzman of the "Daily News" awarded the film three stars and wrote in her review, "Writer-director Darnell Martin clearly respects the fact that the history of Chess Records is a worthy subject." Most critics praised the film for its music, but complained about its script. Jim Harrington of the "San Jose Mercury News" praised Beyoncé's vocal performance and wrote in his review that, "Beyoncé Knowles' captivating voice and the film's other pluses can't outweigh the glaring omissions from the story line for this critic" and "Chess Records deserves, and will hopefully someday get, a better spin than the one delivered by "Cadillac Records"."


title: Cadillac Records

text: A. O. Scott of "The New York Times" named it the 10th best film of 2008. During the 2009 award season, Knowles received a Satellite Award nomination for her portrayal of Etta James. Knowles, Amanda Ghost, Scott McFarmon, Ian Dench, James Dring and Jody Street received a Golden Globe nomination, Best Original Song, for writing "Once in a Lifetime"; a song Knowles recorded for the film's soundtrack. The film also garnered seven NAACP Image Award nominations, which included Outstanding Motion Picture, Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture (Jeffrey Wright), Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture (Cedric the Entertainer, Columbus Short and Mos Def), and Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture (Beyoncé Knowles).


title: Cadillac Records

text: The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray on March 10, 2009, and sold over 130,000 copies in its first week. To date it has made an estimate of $11,916,737 in sales, which coupled with its box office gross helped the film pay back its $12 million budget (total gross: $20,796,782).


title: Titmouse, Inc.

text: Titmouse, Inc. is an American animation studio that develops and produces animated television programming, feature films, music videos, title sequences, commercials, and short films. The studio opened in 2000, and has offices in Los Angeles, New York City, and Vancouver.


title: Titmouse, Inc.

text: Some of their productions include "Breadwinners" and "Baby Shark's Big Show!" for Nickelodeon, "Motorcity" for Disney XD, "Big Mouth" and "The Midnight Gospel" for Netflix, "Metalocalypse", "The Venture Bros.", "Superjail!", "King Star King", "", "Black Dynamite" for Adult Swim and "Megas XLR" and "" for Cartoon Network, "Animaniacs" for Warner Bros. Animation and Hulu, "Moonbeam City" for Comedy Central, " for" Hasbro", Bless the Harts" for Fox, "Turbo Fast" for DreamWorks Animation Television, "" for Paramount+, "The Legend of Vox Machina" and "Fairfax" for Amazon Prime Video.


title: Titmouse, Inc.

text: Founder and CEO Chris Prynoski began working at MTV in New York on shows such as "Daria", "Beavis and Butt-Head", and his own creation, "Downtown", which was nominated for a primetime Emmy Award. In the early 2000s, Prynoski opened a small T-shirt company with his wife, Shannon Prynoski. However, upon getting more requests for cartoons than for T-shirts, they decided to abandon screen-printing in favor of animation. The Prynoskis moved to California, and opened the revamped Titmouse, Inc., an animation studio. Antonio Canobbio, who had worked with Chris Prynoski at MTV and both Prynoskis at Cartoon Network in L.A., was hired as creative director. Titmouse opened a games division in 2009.


title: Titmouse, Inc.

text: Due to projects like Cartoon Network's "Metalocalypse", "Superjail!" and "The Venture Bros." the company expanded and opened a sister studio in New York City in 2010. The California studio later added a wholly owned subsidiary, Robin Redbreast, which was then unionized in order to produce "Motorcity" for Disney XD.


title: Titmouse, Inc.

text: The company has a YouTube channel, Rug Burn, launched in December 2012 with 6 Point Harness. Rug Burn was launched with a handful of shows.


title: Titmouse, Inc.

text: In April 2016, Titmouse released its first feature-length film, the R-rated "Nerdland", which stars Paul Rudd and Patton Oswalt.


title: Titmouse, Inc.

text: In October 2020, Titmouse Vancouver became the first animation studio in Canada to join a union. Following a vote that captured 87% of the workforce, 98% of Titmouse Vancouver's workforce voted to join the newly founded Animation Guild IATSE Local 938.


title: Titmouse, Inc.

text: In response to this, some said that the issues raised by the workers of Titmouse were the same ones heard "from unrepresented animation workers everywhere" and that the unionization of the Titmouse workers acknowledges the contributions by animation workers to the industry.


title: Titmouse, Inc.

text: In January 2022, the employees of Titmouse New York formed a union with Animation Guild IATSE Local 839, the first to do so outside of Los Angeles County in more than 70 years. In the card check process, Titmouse NY employees showed more than 90% of support for the organizing effort. Following the union becoming public, Titmouse management chose to voluntarily recognize the union and agreed to negotiate with the Animation Guild in good faith.


title: The Color Purple (2023 film)

text: The Color Purple is an upcoming American musical coming-of-age period drama film directed by Blitz Bazawule and adapted for the screen by Marcus Gardley from the 2005 stage musical of the same name, which is in turn based on Alice Walker's 1982 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name. It is the second film adaptation of the novel, following Steven Spielberg's 1985 film adaptation. Spielberg and Quincy Jones return to produce this version, along with the stage musical's producers Scott Sanders and Oprah Winfrey, the latter of whom also starred in the 1985 film as Sofia.


title: The Color Purple (2023 film)

text: "The Color Purple" is scheduled to be released in the United States on December 20, 2023, by Warner Bros. Pictures.


title: The Color Purple (2023 film)

text: A story of the life-long struggles of an African American woman living in the south during the early 1900s.


title: The Color Purple (2023 film)

text: On November 2, 2018, it was announced that a film adaptation of the musical was in development at Warner Bros. Pictures and Amblin Entertainment, the same companies that made the 1985 film adaptation of the novel, with Steven Spielberg, Quincy Jones, Scott Sanders, and Oprah Winfrey all signed on to produce. In August 2020, it was announced that Marcus Gardley will pen the screenplay and "Black Is King"'s Blitz Bazawule will direct.


title: The Color Purple (2023 film)

text: Winfrey praised the selection of Bazawule as director, after she and the producers saw his work on "The Burial of Kojo", saying that they "were all blown away by Blitz's unique vision as a director and look forward to seeing how he brings the next evolution of this beloved story to life." It was also announced that Alice Walker, Rebecca Walker, Kristie Macosko Krieger, Carla Gardini, and Mara Jacobs will executive produce the film.


title: The Color Purple (2023 film)

text: In August 2021, Corey Hawkins was cast in a lead role. That same month, H.E.R. was cast in her feature acting debut. In February 2022, Taraji P. Henson, Fantasia Barrino, Danielle Brooks, Colman Domingo, and Halle Bailey joined the cast, with Barrino and Brooks reprising their roles from productions of the stage musical. In March 2022, Louis Gossett Jr., David Alan Grier, Tamela J. Mann, Phylicia Mpasi, Deon Cole, Stephen Hill, and Ciara joined the cast. In April 2022, Aunjanue Ellis, Elizabeth Marvel and Jon Batiste joined the cast.


title: The Color Purple (2023 film)

text: Filming began in March 2022, with production taking place at Driftwood Beach on Jekyll Island from March 16 to March 25. Filming officially wrapped in July 2022.


title: The Color Purple (2023 film)

text: Siedah Garrett will be joining Brenda Russell and Stephen Bray (in place of the late Allee Willis) in writing the film's music.


title: Iago Aspas

text: Iago Aspas Juncal (; born 1 August 1987) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a striker for Celta and the Spain national team.


title: Iago Aspas

text: He has spent most of his career with Celta, appearing in 418 official games across 13 seasons and scoring 184 goals. He made his La Liga debut with the club in 2012 and moved to Liverpool the following year, returning to Celta in 2015 after a loan at Sevilla.


title: Iago Aspas

text: Aspas first appeared with the Spain senior team in 2016. He represented the country at the 2018 World Cup.


title: Iago Aspas

text: Aspas was born in Moaña, Province of Pontevedra, Galicia. Brought through the youth ranks of local club RC Celta de Vigo, he made his first-team debut in the 2007–08 season with the side in Segunda División, then played his second game on 6 June 2009: brought on as a 59th-minute substitute against Deportivo Alavés, he scored both of his team's goals in a 2–1 home win, being essential as it eventually escaped relegation. When he was 17, he was loaned to neighbouring Rápido de Bouzas, where he spent his penultimate year as a junior.


title: Iago Aspas

text: Aspas was definitively promoted from the reserves for 2009–10, going on to appear in several more campaigns in the second tier with the Galicians. In the 2011–12 season, he netted a career-best 23 league goals, second-best in the competition behind UD Almería's Leonardo Ulloa as Celta returned to La Liga after a five-year absence. As a result of his performances, he was voted the best forward and Zarra Trophy winner for the category.


title: Iago Aspas

text: Aspas made his top flight debut on 18 August 2012, starting in a 0–1 home loss against Málaga CF. He scored his first goal in the competition the following month, contributing to a 2–0 win over CA Osasuna also at Balaídos, and added a further 11 during the campaign to help the side escape relegation in the final matchday.


title: Iago Aspas

text: On 15 March 2013, during the 3–1 Galician derby away loss to Deportivo de La Coruña, Aspas was sent off after half an hour for headbutting Carlos Marchena.


title: Iago Aspas

text: In May 2013, it was widely rumoured that a fee estimated between £7–9 million had been agreed for Aspas to join Liverpool, pending personal terms and a medical. On 13 June, both clubs agreed to a deal in principle to sign the player subject to completion of documentation, but this was delayed when his former agent requested the Royal Spanish Football Federation withhold international clearance because of a dispute over his representation; the deal was finally completed on 23 June, and he was given the number 9 shirt.


title: Iago Aspas

text: Aspas made his Liverpool debut on 13 July 2013, scoring his first goal as well as assisting Raheem Sterling in a 4–0 pre-season friendly win against Preston North End. He made his Premier League debut on 17 August, providing an assist for Daniel Sturridge in a 1–0 victory over Stoke City at Anfield.


title: Iago Aspas

text: Aspas scored his first competitive goal for the Reds on 5 January 2014, in a 2–0 win over Oldham Athletic in the FA Cup. During his spell, he played second-fiddle to Philippe Coutinho, Sterling, Sturridge and Luis Suárez as the Reds went on to finish second; he also struggled with his limited knowledge of the English language.


title: Iago Aspas

text: On 14 July 2014, Aspas returned to his homeland, being loaned to Sevilla FC in a season-long move and with a permanent three-year deal as a subsequent obligatory option. He made his competitive debut on 12 August in the 2014 UEFA Super Cup at the Cardiff City Stadium, replacing fellow debutant Aleix Vidal after 66 minutes of an eventual 0–2 defeat to Real Madrid.


title: Iago Aspas

text: On 14 September 2014, Aspas appeared in the league for the first time, coming on for Carlos Bacca for the final seven minutes of a 2–0 home win against Getafe CF. His first goal for his new club came on 2 October, as he opened the score in a 2–2 draw at HNK Rijeka for the UEFA Europa League group stage. Late in that month he played the full 90 minutes and grabbed a hat-trick against CE Sabadell FC, helping to a 6–1 away rout in the round of 32 of the Copa del Rey, adding another treble within a four-minute spell in the second leg for a 5–1 win; he and FC Barcelona's Neymar were the tournament's top scorers, with seven goals each.


title: Iago Aspas

text: Aspas' first league goal for Sevilla came on 1 February 2015, the winner in a 3–2 victory over RCD Espanyol. Earlier in the game, he had taken a shot which was handled by Kiko Casilla outside of the penalty area, resulting in the goalkeeper's dismissal.


title: Iago Aspas

text: On 12 June 2015, Sevilla signed Aspas from Liverpool as part of the agreement between the two clubs, then sold him straight back to Celta on the same day, with the player agreeing to a five-year contract six days later for a €5 million fee. On 23 September, he scored twice in a 4–1 home win over Barcelona.


title: Iago Aspas

text: Aspas was the La Liga Player of the Month for October 2016 after scoring five goals, including braces in a 4–1 win against Deportivo and a 3–3 draw with UD Las Palmas, in addition to a goal and assist in a 4–3 victory over reigning champions Barcelona. The following 23 February he scored a last-minute penalty in the Europa League last-32 second leg to force extra time at FC Shakhtar Donetsk, with the Spaniards emerging victorious.


title: Iago Aspas

text: On 21 May 2017, in the last matchday of the campaign, Aspas scored through a penalty in a 2–2 home draw against Real Sociedad, reaching a personal-best 19 goals and winning the Zarra Trophy in the process. The following season he was again the league's top-scoring Spaniard at 22, behind only Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Luis Suárez overall. He netted hat-tricks in a 5–2 win at UD Las Palmas on 16 October 2017 and a 4–0 defeat of former side Sevilla the following 7 April, in addition to a brace in a 3–1 derby win at eventually relegated Deportivo; on 5 November 2017, with another couple in a 3–1 home win over Athletic Bilbao, he reached 100 goals for his main employer, putting himself sixth in their all-time scorers.


title: Iago Aspas

text: In 2018–19, Aspas was absent with a calf injury for three months from the end of December, during which Celta slipped from ninth place to 18th in the table. He netted twice in a 3–2 win over Villarreal on his return on 30 March 2019 in what was also his 300th game for the team, and on 17 April he signed a new contract to last until 2023, the club's centenary year.


title: Iago Aspas

text: On 24 June 2020, Aspas scored the only goal at Real Sociedad to reach 100 La Liga goals from 209 games; only four players since the Spanish Civil War had done so quicker. Three days later he reached 150 for Celta in his 339th overall match, a 2–2 home draw with Barcelona. On 30 June, he achieved a century of top-flight goals for the club in a 5–1 away loss against RCD Mallorca.


title: Iago Aspas

text: Aspas netted in a 3–1 home defeat to Real Sociedad on 1 November 2020 with his 105th goal for the team in the top division, taking a 69-year record from Hermidita. He was again voted the best in the league for December, contributing to eight of Celta's 11 goals as they went unbeaten in five games. At the end of the season, he had managed to score at least 14 times for the sixth consecutive year. According to different sources, his 160th goal for Celta either equalled Nolete as second highest, or surpassed founding member Ramón Polo as the club's highest scorer of all time.


title: Iago Aspas

text: On 6 November 2021, Aspas scored a brace to help his side come back from 3–0 down to salvage a 3–3 draw against Barcelona, including a goal in the sixth minute of added time.


title: Iago Aspas

text: In December 2012 Aspas, along with Michu, was poised to be called up by manager Vicente del Bosque for a debut with the Spanish national team on 6 February 2013, in an exhibition game with Uruguay in Doha, Qatar. However, neither made the final squad for that match.


title: Iago Aspas

text: Aspas finally earned his first cap on 15 November 2016, under new coach Julen Lopetegui, replacing Juan Mata for the second half of the 2–2 friendly draw against England, being booked and scoring his side's first goal. His competitive debut came on 24 March of the following year, as he played the last six minutes of the 4–1 home win over Israel for the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.


title: Iago Aspas

text: Aspas was included in the 23-man squad for the World Cup finals in Russia. He made his debut in the competition on 15 June 2018, replacing Diego Costa, who had scored twice, for the final 14 minutes of the 3–3 group-stage draw against Portugal; ten days later, having come on for the same player, he scored a last-minute equaliser with a backheel to help his team draw 2–2 against Morocco and reach the knockout phase as group champions.


title: Iago Aspas

text: On 1 July 2018, again after having taken the place of Costa, Aspas was one of two Spanish players to miss his attempt in the round-of-16 penalty shootout against Russia, a 3–4 loss in Moscow.


title: Iago Aspas

text: Aspas represented Galicia in the region's first match for eight years, scoring in a 1–1 friendly draw with Venezuela on 20 May 2016.


title: Iago Aspas

text: Aspas' older brother, Jonathan, was also a footballer. He too came through Celta's youth system. Their cousin, Aitor, represented smaller teams in their native region.


title: Big Bazaar

text: Big Bazaar was an Indian retail chain of hypermarkets, discount department stores, and grocery stores. The retail chain was founded by Kishore Biyani under his parent organisation Future Group, which is known for having a significant prominence in Indian retail and fashion sectors. Big Bazaar is also the parent chain of Food Bazaar, Fashion at Big Bazaar (abbreviated as "fbb") and eZone where at locations it houses all under one roof, while it is sister chain of retail outlets like Brand Factory, Home Town, Central, eZone, etc.


title: Big Bazaar

text: Founded in 2001, Big Bazaar is one of the oldest and largest hypermarket chains of India, housing about 300+ stores in over 120 cities and towns across the country. In February 2022, Reliance Industries took control of over 200 Future group stores and rebranded Big Bazaar as Reliance's Smart Bazaar Stores.


title: Big Bazaar

text: Big Bazaar was founded in 2001 by Kishore Biyani, the founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of the parent company, the Future Group.


title: Big Bazaar

text: The former captain of Indian cricket team, Mahendra Singh Dhoni have previously endorsed for the fashion vertical of Big Bazaar.


title: Big Bazaar

text: In 2020, Big Bazaar was acquired by Reliance Retail, the retail division of the Reliance Industries, as part of a ₹24,713 crore ($3.36 billion) sale transaction of Future Group. However, the deal was called off on 23 April 2022 after FRL's creditors voted against going forward with it.


title: Elizabeth de Burgh

text: Lady Elizabeth de Burgh (; ; c. 1289 – 27 October 1327) was the second wife and the only queen consort of King Robert the Bruce. Elizabeth was born sometime around 1289, probably in what is now County Down or County Antrim in Ulster, the northern province in Ireland.


title: Elizabeth de Burgh

text: She was the daughter of one of the most powerful Norman nobles in the Lordship of Ireland at that time, The 2nd Earl of Ulster, who was a close friend and ally of King Edward I of England.


title: Elizabeth de Burgh

text: Not much is known about Elizabeth, despite her husband's status as one of the most famous Scottish kings and warriors. As is the case with most medieval women, records of Elizabeth are scarce; however, it is clear that she was caught up in the political turmoil that unfolded between the Scottish and the English during the reign of her husband King Robert, had to move several times to keep safe, and was eventually seized as a prisoner.


title: Elizabeth de Burgh

text: She was born in Ulster in the north of Ireland (c. 1289), the daughter of the powerful Richard Óg de Burgh, 2nd Earl of Ulster, and his wife, Margarite de Burgh (died 1304). Her father, Lord Ulster, was a close friend of King Edward I of England.


title: Elizabeth de Burgh

text: Elizabeth probably met Robert the Bruce, then Earl of Carrick, at the English court. They married in 1302 at Writtle, near Chelmsford in Essex, England, at which time Robert was a widower with a young daughter from his first marriage. Elizabeth would have been about 13 years old, and Robert 28.


title: Elizabeth de Burgh

text: On 27 March 1306, Robert and Elizabeth were crowned as King and Queen of Scots at Scone. The coronation took place in defiance of the English claims of suzerainty after Edward I stripped John de Baliol of the crown of Scotland. After his coronation, she is quoted as having said, as though fearing a defeat by Edward I.


title: Elizabeth de Burgh

text: After the defeat of the Scots at the Battle of Methven on 19 June 1306, Robert sent Queen Elizabeth, his daughter Marjorie by his first marriage, and his sisters Mary and Christina to Kildrummy Castle, under the protection of his brother Niall (also known as Nigel). The English laid siege to the castle containing the royal party. The siege finally succeeded when the English bribed a blacksmith with "all the gold he could carry" to set fire to the grain store. The victors hanged, drew and quartered Niall Bruce, along with all the men from the castle. However, the royal ladies under the escort of The 9th Earl of Atholl had already fled.


title: Elizabeth de Burgh

text: They were taken from the sanctuary of St. Duthac at Tain by The Earl of Ross, a supporter of the Comyns, and dispatched to King Edward. He imprisoned Bruce's sister Mary and Isabella, Countess of Buchan, in wooden cages erected on the walls of Roxburgh and Berwick castles respectively, and then sent Bruce's nine-year-old daughter Marjorie to the nunnery at Watton.


title: Elizabeth de Burgh

text: Elizabeth was held under severe conditions of house arrest in England while Edward still needed aid from her father. The Earl of Atholl was hanged and his head displayed on London Bridge.


title: Elizabeth de Burgh

text: She was imprisoned for eight years by the English. From October 1306 to July 1308 she was held at Burstwick-in-Holderness, Yorkshire, where she, only served by two elder women, wrote a letter complaining about her condition (she had only 3 clothes and no headgear or linen bed clothing), before being transferred to Bisham Manor, Berkshire, until March 1312. From there, she was moved to Windsor Castle with six attendants and an allowance, where she was held until October 1312, Shaftesbury Abbey, Dorset, until March 1313, Barking Abbey, Essex, until March 1314, and Rochester Castle, Kent, until June 1314. After the Battle of Bannockburn, she was moved to York while prisoner exchange talks took place. At York, she had an audience with King Edward II of England. She was released as part of the ransom for the Earl of Hereford who had been captured after the Battle of Bannockburn on 29 September 1314.


title: Elizabeth de Burgh

text: Queen Elizabeth had three children who reached adulthood: Matilda, Margaret, and David (the future King David II of Scotland).


title: Elizabeth de Burgh

text: Elizabeth died aged approximately 38 years old, on 27 October 1327, after falling from her horse during a visit to the royal residence at Cullen, Banffshire.


title: Elizabeth de Burgh

text: Plans were immediately made to transport her body to Dunfermline Abbey in Fife, the resting place of Scottish kings and queens since 1093. As parishioners in Cullen were worried that her remains would not arrive intact, they took the step of having her internal organs removed during the embalming process. While some sources claim that her entrails were transported separately to Fife, others state that they were buried in the parish church of Cullen. The parishioners also had Masses said to pray for her soul.


title: Elizabeth de Burgh

text: Robert, in gratitude for the treatment of Elizabeth's body and its return south for burial, decreed that a chaplaincy be established at the Auld Kirk of Cullen (parish church of Cullen) and paid in perpetuity the sum of five Pound Scots to have Masses said for the soul of Elizabeth. Robert's original bequest was augmented by Mary, Queen of Scots, in 1543 and continued to be paid by different bodies throughout the centuries until changes and loss of records due to local government reform in 1975, which led to the stopping of payments.


title: Elizabeth de Burgh

text: In 2011, the church's minister, the Rev Melvyn Wood, applied to the Moray Council to have the tradition re-instated and, after a lengthy investigation, the Council agreed to reinstate the annual payment of £2.10 and even agreed to pay for the missed installments. A prayer is now said in the Queen's honour at a Sunday service which also remembers parishioners who have died in the last year.


title: Elizabeth de Burgh

text: When King Robert died 18 months later, his body was laid to rest next to Elizabeth, who had been interred in the very centre of the abbey beneath the high altar, in an alabaster tomb decorated with gold leaf. Fragments of the tomb still remain and can be seen in the National Museum of Scotland. The abbey was sacked in 1560 by Calvinists during the Scottish Reformation and the tomb was lost. However, King Robert's coffin was rediscovered in 1819 during construction work on the new abbey and Elizabeth's coffin was rediscovered in 1917. Both were re-interred in the new abbey.


title: Lawrence Durrell

text: Lawrence George Durrell (; 27 February 1912 – 7 November 1990) was an expatriate British novelist, poet, dramatist, and travel writer. He was the eldest brother of naturalist and writer Gerald Durrell.


title: Lawrence Durrell

text: Born in India to British colonial parents, he was sent to England at the age of eleven for his education. He did not like formal education, but started writing poetry at age 15. His first book was published in 1935, when he was 23. In March 1935 he and his mother and younger siblings moved to the island of Corfu. Durrell spent many years thereafter living around the world.


title: Lawrence Durrell

text: His most famous work is "The Alexandria Quartet," published between 1957 and 1960. The best-known novel in the series is the first, "Justine". Beginning in 1974, Durrell published "The Avignon Quintet," using many of the same techniques. The first of these novels, "Monsieur, or the Prince of Darkness," won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize in 1974. The middle novel, "Constance, or Solitary Practices," was nominated for the 1982 Booker Prize. By the end of the century, Durrell was a bestselling author and one of the most celebrated writers in England.


title: Lawrence Durrell

text: Durrell supported his writing by working for many years in the Foreign Service of the British government. His sojourns in various places during and after World War II (such as his time in Alexandria, Egypt) inspired much of his work. He married four times, and had a daughter with each of his first two wives.


title: Lawrence Durrell

text: Durrell was born in Jalandhar, British India, the eldest son of Indian-born British colonials Louisa (who was Anglo-Irish) and Lawrence Samuel Durrell, an engineer of English ancestry. His first school was St. Joseph's School, North Point, Darjeeling. He had three younger siblings— two brothers and a sister - naturalist Gerald Durrell, Leslie Durrell and author Margaret Durrell.


title: Lawrence Durrell

text: Like many other children of the British Raj, at the age of eleven, Durrell was sent to England for schooling, where he briefly attended St. Olave's Grammar School before being sent to St. Edmund's School, Canterbury. His formal education was unsuccessful, and he failed his university entrance examinations. He began to write poetry seriously at the age of fifteen. His first collection, "Quaint Fragments", was published in 1931, when he was 19.


title: Lawrence Durrell

text: Durrell's father died of a brain haemorrhage in 1928, at the age of 43. His mother brought the family to England, and in 1932, she, Durrell, and his younger siblings settled in Bournemouth. There, he and his younger brother Gerald became friends with Alan G. Thomas, who had a bookstore and would become an antiquarian.


title: Lawrence Durrell

text: On 22 January 1935, Durrell married Nancy Isobel Myers (1912–1983). It was the first of his four marriages. Durrell was always unhappy in England, and in March of that year he persuaded his new wife, and his mother and younger siblings, to move to the Greek island of Corfu. There they could live more economically and escape both the English weather, and what Durrell considered the stultifying English culture, which he described as "the English death".


title: Lawrence Durrell

text: That same year Durrell's first novel, "Pied Piper of Lovers," was published by Cassell. Around this time he chanced upon a copy of Henry Miller's 1934 novel "Tropic of Cancer." After reading it, he wrote to Miller, expressing intense admiration for his novel. Durrell's letter sparked an enduring friendship and mutually critical relationship that spanned 45 years. Durrell's next novel, "Panic Spring," was strongly influenced by Miller's work, while his 1938 novel "The Black Book" abounded with "four-letter words... grotesques... [and] its mood equally as apocalyptic" as "Tropic".


title: Lawrence Durrell

text: In Corfu, Lawrence and Nancy lived together in bohemian style. For the first few months, the couple lived with the rest of the Durrell family in the Villa Anemoyanni at Kontokali. In early 1936, Durrell and Nancy moved to the White House, a fisherman's cottage on the shore of Corfu's northeastern coast at Kalami, then a tiny fishing village. Durrell's friend Theodore Stephanides, a Greek doctor, scientist, and poet, was a frequent guest, and Miller stayed at the White House in 1939.


title: Lawrence Durrell

text: Durrell fictionalised this period of his sojourn on Corfu in the lyrical novel "Prospero's Cell." His younger brother Gerald Durrell, who became a naturalist, published his own version in his memoir "My Family and Other Animals" (1954) and in the following two books of Gerald's so-called "Corfu Trilogy," published in 1969 and 1978. Gerald describes Lawrence as living permanently with his mother and siblings—his wife Nancy is not mentioned at all. Lawrence, in his turn, refers only briefly to his brother Leslie, and he does not mention that his mother and two other siblings were also living on Corfu in those years. The accounts cover a few of the same topics; for example, both Gerald and Lawrence describe the roles played in their lives by the Corfiot taxi driver Spyros Halikiopoulos and Theodore Stephanides. In Corfu, Lawrence became friends with Marie Aspioti, with whom he cooperated in the publication of "Lear's Corfu."


title: Lawrence Durrell

text: In August 1937, Lawrence and Nancy travelled to the Villa Seurat in Paris to meet Henry Miller and Anaïs Nin. Together with Alfred Perles, Nin, Miller, and Durrell "began a collaboration aimed at founding their own literary movement. Their projects included "The Shame of the Morning" and the "Booster", a country club house organ that the Villa Seurat group appropriated "for their own artistic . . . ends." They also started the Villa Seurat Series in order to publish Durrell's "Black Book," Miller's "Max and the White Phagocytes," and Nin's "Winter of Artifice." Jack Kahane of the Obelisk Press served as publisher.


title: Lawrence Durrell

text: Durrell said that he had three literary uncles: T. S. Eliot, the Greek poet George Seferis, and Miller. He first read Miller after finding a copy of "Tropic of Cancer" that had been left behind in a public lavatory. He said the book shook him "from stem to stern".


title: Lawrence Durrell

text: Durrell's first novel of note, "The Black Book: An Agon," was strongly influenced by Miller; it was published in Paris in 1938. The mildly pornographic work was not published in Great Britain until 1973. In the story, the main character Lawrence Lucifer struggles to escape the spiritual sterility of dying England and finds Greece to be a warm and fertile environment.


title: Lawrence Durrell

text: At the outbreak of World War Two in 1939, Durrell's mother and siblings returned to England, while Nancy and he remained on Corfu. In 1940, they had a daughter, Penelope Berengaria. After the fall of Greece, Lawrence and Nancy escaped via Crete to Alexandria, Egypt. The marriage was already under strain and they separated in 1942. Nancy took the baby Penelope with her to Jerusalem.


title: Lawrence Durrell

text: During his years on Corfu, Durrell had made notes for a book about the island. He did not write it fully until he was in Egypt towards the end of the war. In the book "Prospero's Cell," Durrell described Corfu as "this brilliant little speck of an island in the Ionian," with waters "like the heartbeat of the world itself".


title: Lawrence Durrell

text: During World War Two, Durrell served as a press attaché to the British embassies, first in Cairo and then Alexandria. While in Alexandria he met Eve (Yvette) Cohen (1918–2004), a Jewish Alexandrian. She inspired his character Justine in "The Alexandria Quartet." In 1947, after his divorce from Nancy was completed, Durrell married Eve Cohen, with whom he had been living since 1942. The couple's daughter, Sappho Jane, was born in Oxfordshire in 1951, and named after the ancient Greek poet Sappho.


title: Lawrence Durrell

text: In May 1945, Durrell obtained a posting to Rhodes, the largest of the Dodecanese islands which Italy had taken over from the disintegrating Ottoman Empire in 1912 during the Balkan Wars. With the Italian surrender to the Allies in 1943, German forces took over most of the islands and held onto them as besieged fortresses until the war's end. Mainland Greece was at that time locked in civil war. A temporary British military government was established in the Dodecanese at war's end, pending sovereignty being transferred to Greece in 1947, as part of war reparations from Italy. Durrell set up house with Eve in the little gatekeeper's lodge of an old Turkish cemetery, just across the road from the building used by the British Administration. (Today this is the Casino in Rhodes' new town.) His co-habitation with Eve Cohen could be discreetly ignored by his employer, while the couple gained from staying within the perimeter security zone of the main building. His book "Reflections on a Marine Venus" was inspired by this period and was a lyrical celebration of the island. It avoids more than a passing mention of the troubled war times.


title: Lawrence Durrell

text: In 1947, Durrell was appointed director of the British Council Institute in Córdoba, Argentina. He served there for eighteen months, giving lectures on cultural topics. He returned to London with Eve in the summer of 1948, around the time that Marshal Tito of Yugoslavia broke ties with Stalin's Cominform. Durrell was posted by the British Council to Belgrade, Yugoslavia, and served there until 1952. This sojourn gave him material for his novel "White Eagles over Serbia" (1957).


title: Lawrence Durrell

text: In 1952, Eve had a nervous breakdown and was hospitalised in England. Durrell moved to Cyprus with their daughter Sappho Jane, buying a house and taking a position teaching English literature at the Pancyprian Gymnasium to support his writing. He next worked in public relations for the British government during the local agitation for union with Greece. He wrote about his time in Cyprus in "Bitter Lemons", which won the Duff Cooper Prize in 1957. In 1954, he was selected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. Durrell left Cyprus in August 1956. Political agitation on the island and his British government position resulted in his becoming a target for assassination attempts.


title: Lawrence Durrell

text: In 1957, Durrell published "Justine," the first novel of what was to become his most famous work, "The Alexandria Quartet." "Justine," "Balthazar" (1958), "Mountolive" (1958), and "Clea" (1960), deal with events before and during the Second World War in the Egyptian city of Alexandria. The first three books tell essentially the same story and series of events, but from the varying perspectives of different characters. Durrell described this technique in his introductory note in "Balthazar" as "relativistic." Only in the final novel, "Clea", does the story advance in time and reach a conclusion. Critics praised the "Quartet" for its richness of style, the variety and vividness of its characters, its movement between the personal and the political, and its locations in and around the ancient Egyptian city which Durrell portrays as the chief protagonist: "The city which used us as its flora—precipitated in us conflicts which were hers and which we mistook for our own: beloved Alexandria!" "The Times Literary Supplement" review of the "Quartet" stated: "If ever a work bore an instantly recognizable signature on every sentence, this is it."


title: Lawrence Durrell

text: In 2012, when the Nobel Records were opened after 50 years, it was revealed that Durrell had been nominated for the 1961 Nobel Prize in Literature, but did not make the final list. In 1962, however, he did receive serious consideration, along with Robert Graves, Jean Anouilh, and Karen Blixen, but ultimately lost to John Steinbeck. The Academy decided that "Durrell was not to be given preference this year"—probably because "they did not think that "The Alexandria Quartet" was enough, so they decided to keep him under observation for the future." However, he was never nominated again. They also noted that he "gives a dubious aftertaste … because of [his] monomaniacal preoccupation with erotic complications."


title: Lawrence Durrell

text: In 1955 Durrell separated from Eve Cohen. He married again in 1961, to Claude-Marie Vincendon, whom he met on Cyprus. She was a Jewish woman born in Alexandria. Durrell was devastated when Claude-Marie died of cancer in 1967. He married for the fourth and last time in 1973, to Ghislaine de Boysson, a French woman. They divorced in 1979.


title: Lawrence Durrell

text: Durrell settled in Sommières, a small village in Languedoc, France, where he purchased a large house on the edge of the village. The house was situated in extensive grounds surrounded by a wall. Here he wrote "The Revolt of Aphrodite," comprising "Tunc" (1968) and "Nunquam" (1970). He also completed "The Avignon Quintet," published from 1974 to 1985, which used many of the same motifs and styles found in his metafictional "Alexandria Quartet." Although the related works are frequently described as a quintet, Durrell referred to it as a "quincunx."


title: Lawrence Durrell

text: The opening novel, "Monsieur, or the Prince of Darkness," received the 1974 James Tait Black Memorial Prize. That year, Durrell was living in the United States and serving as the Andrew Mellon Visiting Professor of Humanities at the California Institute of Technology.


title: Lawrence Durrell

text: The middle novel of the quincunx, "Constance, or Solitary Practices" (1981), which portrays France in the 1940s under the German occupation, was nominated for the Booker Prize in 1982.


title: Lawrence Durrell

text: Other works from this period are "Sicilian Carousel," a non-fiction celebration of that island, "The Greek Islands," and "Caesar's Vast Ghost," which is set in and chiefly about the region of Provence, France.


title: Lawrence Durrell

text: A longtime smoker, Durrell suffered from emphysema for many years. He died of a stroke at his house in Sommières in November 1990, and was buried in the churchyard of the Chapelle St-Julien de Montredon in Sommières.


title: Lawrence Durrell

text: He was predeceased by his younger daughter, Sappho Jane, who took her own life in 1985 at age 33. After Durrell's death, it emerged that Sappho's diaries included allusions to an alleged incestuous relationship with her father.


title: Lawrence Durrell

text: Durrell worked for several years in the service of the Foreign Office. He was senior press officer to the British embassies in Athens and Cairo, press attaché in Alexandria and Belgrade, and director of the British Institutes in Kalamata, Greece, and Córdoba, Argentina. He was also director of Public Relations in the Dodecanese Islands and on Cyprus. He later refused an honour as a Knight Commander of the Order of St. Michael and St. George, because he felt his "conservative, reactionary and right-wing" political views might be a cause for embarrassment. Durrell's works of humour, "Esprit de Corps" and "Stiff Upper Lip," are about life in the diplomatic corps, particularly in Serbia. He claimed to have disliked both Egypt and Argentina, although not nearly so much as he disliked Yugoslavia.


title: Lawrence Durrell

text: Durrell's poetry has been overshadowed by his novels, but Peter Porter, in his introduction to a "Selected Poems," calls Durrell "One of the best [poets] of the past hundred years. And one of the most enjoyable." Porter describes Durrell's poetry: "Always beautiful as sound and syntax. Its innovation lies in its refusal to be more high-minded than the things it records, together with its handling of the whole lexicon of language."


title: Lawrence Durrell

text: For much of his life, Durrell resisted being identified solely as British, or as only affiliated with Britain. He preferred to be considered cosmopolitan. Since his death, there have been claims that Durrell never had British citizenship, but he was originally classified as a British citizen as he was born to British colonial parents living in India under the British Raj.


title: Lawrence Durrell

text: In 1966 Durrell and many other former and present British residents became classified as non-patrial, as a result of an amendment to the Commonwealth Immigrants Act. The law was covertly intended to reduce migration from India, Pakistan, and the West Indies, but Durrell was also penalized by it and refused citizenship. He had not been told that he needed to "register as a British citizen in 1962 under the Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1962."


title: Lawrence Durrell

text: As "The Guardian" reported in 2002, Durrell in 1966 was "one of the best selling, most celebrated English novelists of the late 20th century" and "at the height of his fame." Denied the normal citizenship right to enter or settle in Britain, Durrell had to apply for a visa for each entry. Diplomats were outraged and embarrassed at these events. "Sir Patrick Reilly, the ambassador in Paris, was so incensed that he wrote to his Foreign Office superiors: 'I venture to suggest it might be wise to ensure that ministers, both in the Foreign Office and the Home Office, are aware that one of our greatest living writers in the English language is being debarred from the citizenship of the United Kingdom to which he is entitled.'"


title: Lawrence Durrell

text: After Durrell's death, his lifelong friend Alan G. Thomas donated a collection of books and periodicals associated with Durrell to the British Library. This is maintained as the distinct Lawrence Durrell Collection. Thomas had earlier edited an anthology of writings, letters and poetry by Durrell, published as "Spirit of Place" (1969). It contained material related to Durrell's own published works. An important documentary resource is kept by the Bibliothèque Lawrence Durrell at the Université Paris Ouest in Nanterre.


title: Kharijites

text: The Kharijites (, singular ), also called al-Shurat (), were an Islamic sect which emerged during the First Fitna (656–661). The first Kharijites were supporters of Ali who rebelled against his acceptance of arbitration talks to settle the conflict with his challenger, Mu'awiya, at the Battle of Siffin in 657. They asserted that "judgment belongs to God alone", which became their motto, and that rebels such as Mu'awiya had to be fought and overcome according to Qur'anic injunctions. Ali defeated the Kharijites at the Battle of Nahrawan in 658, but their insurrection continued. Ali was assassinated in 661 by a Kharijite seeking revenge for the defeat at Nahrawan.


title: Kharijites

text: After Mu'awiya's establishment of the Umayyad Caliphate in 661, his governors kept the Kharijites in check. The power vacuum caused by the Second Fitna (680–692) allowed for the resumption of the Kharijites' anti-government rebellion and the Kharijite factions of the Azariqa and Najdat came to control large areas in Persia and Arabia. Internal disputes and fragmentation weakened them considerably before their defeat by the Umayyads in 696–699. In the 740s, large-scale Kharijite rebellions broke out across the caliphate, but all were eventually suppressed. Although the Kharijite revolts continued into the Abbasid period (750–1258), the most militant Kharijite groups were gradually eliminated, and were replaced by the non-activist Ibadiyya, who survive to this day in Oman and some parts of North Africa. They, however, deny any links with the Kharijites of the Second Muslim Civil War and beyond, condemning them as extremists.


title: Kharijites

text: The Kharijites believed that any Muslim, irrespective of his descent or ethnicity, qualified for the role of caliph, provided they were morally irreproachable. It was the duty of Muslims to rebel against and depose caliphs who sinned. Most Kharijite groups branded as unbelievers Muslims who had committed a grave sin, and the most militant declared killing of such unbelievers to be licit, unless they repented. Many Kharijites were skilled orators and poets, and the major themes of their poetry were piety and martyrdom. The Kharijites of the eighth and ninth centuries participated in theological debates and, in the process, contributed to mainstream Islamic theology.


title: Kharijites

text: What is known about Kharijite history and doctrines derives from non-Kharijite authors of the ninth and tenth centuries, and is hostile toward the sect. The absence of the Kharijite version of their history has made unearthing their true motives difficult. Traditional Muslim historical sources and mainstream Muslims have viewed the Kharijites as religious extremists who left the Muslim community. Many modern Muslim extremist groups have been compared to the Kharijites for their radical ideology and militancy. On the other hand, some modern Arab historians have stressed the egalitarian and proto-democratic tendencies of the Kharijites. Modern, academic historians are generally divided in attributing the Kharijite phenomenon to purely religious motivations, economic factors, or a Bedouin (nomadic Arab) challenge to the establishment of an organized state, with some rejecting the traditional account of the movement having started at Siffin.


title: Kharijites

text: The term was used as an exonym by their opponents for leaving the army of Caliph Ali during the First Fitna. The term comes from the Arabic root , which has the primary meaning "to leave" or "to get out", as in the basic word , , "to go out". The term is anglicized to 'Kharijites' from the singular . They called themselves ("the Exchangers"), which they understood within the context of Islamic scripture () and philosophy to mean "those who have traded the mortal life () for the other life [with God] ()".


title: Kharijites

text: Almost no primary Kharijite sources survive, except for works by authors from the sole surviving Kharijite sect of Ibadiyya, and excerpts in non-Kharijite works. As the latter are the main sources of information and date to later periods, the Kharijite material has suffered alterations and distortions during transmission, collection, and classification.


title: Kharijites

text: Non-Kharijite sources fall mainly into two categories: histories and heresiographical works—the so-called (sects) literature. The histories were written significantly later than the actual events, and many of the theological and political disputes among the early Muslims had been settled by then. As representatives of the emerging orthodoxy, the Sunni as well as Shi'a authors of these works looked upon the original events through the lens of this orthodox viewpoint. The bulk of information regarding the Kharijites, however, comes from the second category. These sources are outright polemical, as the authors tend to portray their own sect as the true representative of original Islam and are consequently hostile to the Kharijites. Although the authors in both categories used earlier Kharijite as well as non-Kharijite sources, which are no longer extant, their rendering of the events has been heavily altered by literary topoi.


title: Kharijites

text: Based on a hadith (saying or tradition attributed to the Islamic prophet Muhammad) prophesying the emergence of 73 sects in Islam, of which one would be saved () and the rest doomed as deviant, the heresiographers were mainly concerned with classifying what they considered to be deviant sects and their heretical doctrines. Consequently, views of certain sects were altered to fit into classification schemes, and sometimes fictitious sects were invented. Moreover, the reports are often confused and contradictory, rendering a reconstruction of 'what actually happened' and the true motives of the Kharijites, which is free of later interpolations, especially difficult. According to the historians Hannah-Lena Hagemann and Peter Verkinderen, the sources sometimes used the Kharijites as a literary tool to address other issues, which were otherwise unrelated to the Kharijites, such as "the status of Ali, the dangers of communal strife, or the legal aspects of rebellion". The Ibadi sources, on the other hand, are hagiographical and are concerned with preserving the group identity. Toward this purpose, stories are sometimes created, or real events altered, in order to romanticize and valorize early Kharijite revolts and their leaders as the anchors of the group identity. These too are hostile to other Kharijite groups. The sources, whether Ibadi, historiographical, or heresiographical, do not necessarily report events as they actually happened. They rather show how their respective authors viewed, and wanted their readers to view, these events.


title: Kharijites

text: The sources in the historiographical category include the "History" of al-Tabari (d. 923), of al-Baladhuri (d. 892), of al-Mubarrad (d. 899), and of al-Mas'udi (d. 956). Other notable sources include the histories of Ibn Athir (d. 1233), and Ibn Kathir (d. 1373), but these have drawn most of their material from al-Tabari. The core of the information in these historiographical sources is based on the works of earlier historians like Abu Mikhnaf (d. 773), Abu Ubayda (d. 825), and al-Mada'ini (d. 843). The authors of the heresiographical category include al-Ash'ari (d. 935), al-Baghdadi (d. 1037), Ibn Hazm (d. 1064), al-Shahrastani (d. 1153), and others. Notable among the surviving Ibadi works is the eighth-century heresiographical writing of Salim ibn Dhakwan. It distinguishes Ibadism from other Kharijite groups which it treats as extremists. "Al-Kashf wa'l-Bayan", a 12th-century work by al-Qalhati, is another example of Ibadi heresiographies and discusses the origins of the Kharijites and the divisions within the Kharijite movement.


title: Kharijites

text: The Kharijites were the first sect to arise within Islam. They originated during the First Fitna, the struggle for political leadership over the Muslim community (), following the assassination in 656 of the third caliph Uthman.


title: Kharijites

text: The later years of Uthman's reign were marked by growing discontent from multiple groups within the Muslim community. His favoritism and enrichment of his Umayyad relatives was disdained by the Muslim elite in Medina. The early Muslim settlers of the garrison towns of Kufa and Fustat, in the conquered regions of Iraq and Egypt, felt their status threatened by several factors during this period. These were Uthman's interference in provincial affairs, overcrowding of the garrison towns by a continuous tribal influx from Arabia, diminishing revenue from the conquests, and the growing influence of the pre-Islamic tribal nobility. Opposition by the Iraqi early-comers, who became known as the (which probably means 'the Qur'an reciters'), and the Egyptians turned into open rebellion in 656. Encouraged by the disaffected Medinese elite, the rebels marched on Medina, killing Uthman in June 656. His murder sparked the civil war.


title: Kharijites

text: Afterward, Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law Ali became caliph with the help of the people of Medina and the rebels. He was soon challenged by Muhammad's early companions, Talha ibn Ubayd Allah and Zubayr ibn al-Awwam, and Muhammad's widow, A'isha, who held that his election was invalid as it involved Uthman's murderers and hence a (consultative assembly) had to be called to elect a new caliph. Ali defeated them in November 656 at the Battle of the Camel. Later, Mu'awiya ibn Abi Sufyan, Uthman's kinsman and the governor of Syria, denounced Ali's election, holding that Uthman's murderers were in Ali's camp and evaded punishment. The two faced each other at the Battle of Siffin in July 657. On the verge of defeat, Mu'awiya ordered his soldiers to hoist leaves of the Qur'an () on their lances, a signal to stop the fight and negotiate peace. The in Ali's army were moved by the gesture, which they interpreted as an appeal to the Book of God, and demanded that Ali halt the fighting immediately. Although initially unwilling, he yielded under pressure and threats of violence against him by the . An arbitration committee composed of representatives of Ali and Mu'awiya was established with a mandate to settle the dispute according to the Qur'an and the . While most of Ali's army accepted the agreement, one group, which included many Tamim tribesmen, vehemently objected to the arbitration and raised the slogan 'judgment belongs to God alone' ().


title: Kharijites

text: As Ali marched back to his capital at Kufa, widespread resentment toward the arbitration developed in his army. As many as 12,000 dissenters seceded from the army and set up camp in Harura, a place near Kufa. They thus became known as the Harurites. They held that Uthman had deserved his death because of his nepotism and not ruling according to the Qur'an, and that Ali was the legitimate caliph, while Mu'awiya was a rebel. They believed that the Qur'an clearly stated that as a rebel Mu'awiya was not entitled to arbitration, but rather should be fought until he repented, pointing to the Qur'anic verse:


title: Kharijites

text: They held that in agreeing to arbitration, Ali committed the grave sin of rejecting God's judgment () and attempted to substitute human judgment for God's clear injunction, which prompted their motto 'judgment belongs to God alone'. From this expression, which they were the first to adopt as a motto, they became known as the .


title: Kharijites

text: Ali visited the Harura camp and attempted to regain the dissidents' support, arguing that it was they who had forced him to accept the arbitration proposal despite his reservations. They acknowledged that they had sinned but insisted that they repented and asked him to do the same, which Ali then did in general and ambiguous terms. The troops at Harura subsequently restored their allegiance to Ali and returned to Kufa, on the condition that the war against Mu'awiya be resumed within six months.


title: Kharijites

text: Ali refused to denounce the arbitration proceedings, which continued despite the reconciliation with the troops at Harura. In March 658, Ali sent a delegation, led by Abu Musa Ash'ari, to carry out the talks. The troops opposed to the arbitration thereafter condemned Ali's rule and elected the pious Abd Allah ibn Wahb al-Rasibi as their caliph. In order to evade detection, they moved out of Kufa in small groups and went to a place called Nahrawan on the east bank of the Tigris. Some five hundred of their Basran comrades were informed and joined them in Nahrawan, numbering reportedly up to 4,000 men. They declared Ali and his followers as unbelievers, and are held to have killed several people who did not share their views.


title: Kharijites

text: In the meantime, the arbitrators declared that Uthman had been killed unjustly by the rebels. They could not agree on any other substantive matters and the process collapsed. Ali denounced the conduct of Abu Musa and Mu'awiya's lead arbitrator Amr ibn al-As as contrary to the Qur'an and the , and rallied his supporters for a renewed war against Mu'awiya. He invited the Kharijites to join him as before. They refused, pending his acknowledgement of having gone astray and his repentance. Seeing no chance of reconciliation, Ali decided to depart for Syria without them. On the way, however, he received news of the Kharijites' murder of a traveler, which then was followed by murder of his envoy, who had been sent to investigate. He was urged by his followers, who feared for their families and property in Kufa, to deal with the Kharijites first. After the Kharijites refused to surrender the murderers, Ali's men attacked their camp, inflicting a heavy defeat on them at the Battle of Nahrawan (July 658), in which al-Rasibi and most of his supporters were slain. Around 1,200 Kharijites surrendered and were spared. The bloodshed sealed the split of the Kharijites from Ali's followers, and they continued to launch insurrections against the caliphate. Five small Kharijite revolts following Nahrawan, involving about 200 men each, were suppressed during Ali's rule. The Kharijite calls for revenge ultimately led to Ali's assassination by the Kharijite Abd al-Rahman ibn Muljam. The latter killed Ali with a poisoned sword while Ali was leading morning prayers on 26 January 661 in the Kufa mosque.


title: Kharijites

text: The accession of Mu'awiya, the original enemy of the Kharijites, to the caliphate in August 661 provided the new impetus for Kharijite rebellion. Those Kharijites at Nahrawan who had been unwilling to fight Ali and had left the battlefield, rebelled against Mu'awiya. Under the leadership of Farwa ibn Nawfal al-Ashja'i of the Banu Murra, some 500 of them attacked Mu'awiya's camp at Nukhayla (a place outside Kufa) where he was taking the Kufans' oath of allegiance. In the ensuing battle, the Kharijites repelled the initial sortie by Mu'awiya's troops, but were eventually defeated and most of them killed. Seven more Kufan Kharijite uprisings, with rebel numbers in individual revolts varying between 20 and 400, were defeated by the governor Mughira ibn Shu'ba. The best known of these revolts was that of Mustawrid ibn Ullafa, who was recognized as caliph by the Kufan Kharijites in 663. With about 300 followers, he left Kufa and moved to Behrasir. There, he confronted the deputy governor Simak ibn Ubayd al-Absi and invited him to denounce Uthman and Ali "who had made innovations in the religion and denied the holy book". Simak refused and Mustawrid, instead of engaging him directly, decided to exhaust and fragment Simak's forces by forcing them into pursuit. Moving onto Madhar near Basra, Mustawrid was overtaken by a 300-strong advance party of Simak's forces. Although Mustawrid was able to withstand this small force, he fled again toward Kufa when the main body of Simak's forces, under the command of Ma'qil ibn Qays, arrived. Eluding Ma'qil's advance guard of 600 men, Mustawrid led a surprise attack on Ma'qil's main force, destroying it. The advance guard returned in the meantime and attacked the Kharijites from the rear. Nearly all of them were slain.


title: Kharijites

text: Kufan Kharijism died out around 663, and Basra became the center of Kharijite disturbances. Ziyad ibn Abihi and his son Ubayd Allah ibn Ziyad, who successively became governors of Iraq, dealt harshly with the Kharijites, and five Kharijite revolts, usually involving around 70 men, were suppressed. Notable among these was that of the cousins Qarib ibn Murra al-Azdi and Zuhhaff ibn Zahr al-Tayyi. In 672/673 they rebelled in Basra with a 70-strong band. They are reported to have been involved in the random killing () of people in the streets and mosques of Basra before being cornered in a house, where they were eventually killed and their bodies crucified. Afterward, Ziyad is reported to have severely persecuted their followers. Ibn Ziyad jailed any Kharijite whom he suspected of being dangerous and executed several Kharijite sympathizers who had publicly denounced him. Between their successive reigns, Ziyad and his son are said to have killed 13,000 Kharijites. As a result of these repressive measures, some of the Kharijites abandoned military action, adopting political quietism and concealing their religious beliefs. Of the quietists, the best known was Abu Bilal Mirdas ibn Udayya al-Tamimi. One of the earliest Kharijites who had seceded at Siffin, he was held in the highest esteem by the Basran quietists. Provoked by the torture and murder of a Kharijite woman by Ibn Ziyad, Abu Bilal abandoned Basra and revolted in 680/681 with 40 men. Shortly after defeating a 2,000-strong Basran force in Ahwaz, he fell to a larger army of 3,000 or 4,000 in Fars in southern Persia. His fate is said to have aroused the quietists and contributed to the increased Kharijite militancy in the subsequent period.


title: Kharijites

text: After the death of Mu'awiya in 680, civil war ensued over leadership of the Muslim community. The people of the Hejaz (where Mecca and Medina are located) rebelled against Mu'awiya's son and successor, Yazid. The Mecca-based Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr, a son of Zubayr ibn al-Awwam, was the most prominent Hejazi opponent of Yazid. When Yazid sent an army to suppress the rebellion in 683 and Mecca was besieged, Kharijites from Basra reinforced Ibn al-Zubayr. After Yazid's death in November, Ibn al-Zubayr proclaimed himself caliph and publicly condemned Uthman's murder. Both acts prompted the Kharijites to abandon his cause. The majority, including Nafi ibn al-Azraq and Najda ibn Amir al-Hanafi, went to Basra, while the remainder left for the Yamama, in central Arabia, under the leadership of Abu Talut Salim ibn Matar. In the meantime, Ibn Ziyad was expelled by tribal chiefs in Basra, where inter-tribal strife ensued. Ibn al-Azraq and other militant Kharijites took over the city, killed the deputy left by Ibn Ziyad and freed 140 Kharijites from prison. Soon afterwards, the Basrans recognized Ibn al-Zubayr, who appointed Umar ibn Ubayd Allah ibn Ma'mar as the city's governor. Umar drove out Ibn al-Azraq's men from Basra and they escaped to Ahwaz.


title: Kharijites

text: From Ahwaz, Ibn al-Azraq raided Basra's suburbs. His followers are called Azariqa after their leader, and are described in the sources as the most fanatic of the Kharijite groups, for they approved the doctrine of : indiscriminate killing of the non-Kharijite Muslims, including their women and children. An army sent against them by the Zubayrid governor of Basra in early 685 defeated the Azariqa, and Ibn al-Azraq was killed. The Azariqa chose Ubayd Allah ibn Mahuz as their new leader, regrouped, forced the Zubayrid army to retreat, and resumed their raids. After more defeats, Ibn al-Zubayr deployed his most able commander, Muhallab ibn Abi Sufra, against the Azariqa. Muhallab defeated them at the battle of Sillabra in May 686 and killed Ibn Mahuz. The Azariqa retreated to Fars. In late 686, Muhallab discontinued his campaign as he was sent to rein in the pro-Alid ruler of Kufa, Mukhtar al-Thaqafi, and was afterward appointed governor of Mosul to defend against possible Umayyad attacks from Syria. The Azariqa plundered al-Mada'in and then besieged Isfahan, but were defeated. They fled and eventually regrouped in Kirman. Reinvigorated by a new leader, Qatari ibn al-Fuja'a, the Azariqa attacked Basra's environs afterward and Muhallab was redeployed to suppress them. Although the Azariqa were not dislodged from Fars and Kirman, Muhallab prevented their advance into Iraq. Qatari minted his own coins and adopted the caliphal title (commander of the faithful). After the Umayyads reconquered Iraq from the Zubayrids in 691, Umayyad princes took over the command from Muhallab, but were dealt severe defeats by the Azariqa. In 694 the commander Hajjaj ibn Yusuf was appointed governor of Iraq and reinstated Muhallab to lead the war against the Azariqa. Muhallab forced their retreat to Kirman, where they split into two groups and were subsequently destroyed in 698–699.


title: Kharijites

text: During his time in Ahwaz, Najda broke with Ibn al-Azraq over the latter's extremist ideology. Najda, with his followers, moved to the Yamama, the homeland of his Banu Hanifa tribe. He became leader of Abu Talut's Kharijite faction, which became known as the Najdat after him. Najda took control of Bahrayn, repulsing a 14,000-strong Zubayrid army deployed against him. His lieutenant, Atiyya ibn al-Aswad, captured Oman from the local Julanda rulers, though the latter reasserted their control after a few months. Najda seized Hadramawt and Yemen in 687 and later captured Ta'if, a town close to Ibn al-Zubayr's capital Mecca, leaving the latter cornered in the Hejaz, as Najda controlled most of Arabia. Not long after, his followers became disillusioned with him for his alleged correspondence with the Umayyad caliph Abd al-Malik, irregular pay to his soldiers, his refusal to punish a soldier who had consumed wine, and his release of a captive granddaughter of caliph Uthman. He was thus deposed for having gone astray and subsequently executed in 691. Atiyya had already broken from Najda and moved to Sistan in eastern Persia, and was later killed there or in Sind. In Sistan, his followers split into various sects, including the Atawiyya and the Ajarida. In Arabia, Abu Fudayk Abd Allah ibn Thawr took over the leadership of the Najdat and defeated several Zubayrid and later Umayyad attacks. He was eventually killed along with 6,000 followers in 692 by Umayyad forces in Bahrayn. Politically exterminated, the Najdat retreated into obscurity and disappeared around the tenth century.


title: Kharijites

text: According to the heresiographers' accounts, the original Kharijites split into four principal groups (; the mother sects of all the later Kharijites sects), during the Second Fitna. A moderate group, headed by Abd Allah ibn Saffar (or Asfar) and Abd Allah ibn Ibad, disagreed with the radical Azariqa and Najdat on the question of rebellion and separation from the non-Kharijites. Ibn Saffar and Ibn Ibad then disagreed amongst themselves as to the faith of the non-Kharijites, and thus came the two other sects: the Sufriyya and Ibadiyya. All the other uncategorized Kharijite subgroups are considered offshoots of the Sufriyya. In this scheme, the Kharijites of the Jazira region (north-western Iraq), including the ascetic Salih ibn Mussarih and the tribal leader Shabib ibn Yazid al-Shaybani are associated with the Sufriyya, as well as the revolt of Dahhak ibn Qays al-Shaybani during the Third Fitna (744–750). After Ibn Ibad's death, the Ibadiyya are considered to have been led into the late Umayyad period successively by Jabir ibn Zayd and Abu Ubayda Muslim ibn Abi Karima. Jabir, a respected scholar and traditionist, had friendly relations with Abd al-Malik and Hajjaj. Following the death of Abd al-Malik, relations between the Ibadiyya leaders and Hajjaj deteriorated, as the former became inclined towards activism (). Hajjaj consequently exiled some of them to Oman and imprisoned others. Abu Ubayda, who was released after the death of Hajjaj in 714, became the next leader of the Ibadiyya. After unsuccessfully attempting to win over the Umayyad caliphs to the Ibadi doctrine, he sent missionaries to propagate the doctrine in different parts of the empire. Almost simultaneously, the Sufriyya also spread into North Africa and southern Arabia through missionary activity. Through absorption into the Ibadiyya, the Sufriyya eventually became extinct. Ibadi sources too are more or less in line with this scheme, where the Ibadiyya appear as the true successors of the original Medinese community and the early, pre-Second-Fitna Kharijites, though Ibn Ibad does not feature prominently and Jabir is asserted as the leader of the movement following Abu Bilal Mirdas.


title: Kharijites

text: Modern historians consider Ibn Saffar to be a legendary figure, and assert that the Sufriyya and Ibadiyya sects did not exist during the seventh century. The heresiographers, whose aim was to categorize the divergent beliefs of the Kharijites, most likely invented the Sufriyya to accommodate those groups who did not fit neatly anywhere else. As such, there was only one moderate Kharijite current, which might have been called "Sufri". According to the historian Keith Lewinstein, the term probably originated with the pious early Kharijites because of their pale-yellow appearance () caused by excessive worship. The moderates condemned the militancy of the Azariqa and Najdat, but otherwise lacked a set of concrete doctrines. Jabir and Abu Ubayda may have been prominent figures in the moderate movement. The moderates further split into the true Sufriyya and Ibadiyya only during the eighth century, with the main difference being tribal affiliations rather than doctrinal differences.


title: Kharijites

text: During the Second Fitna, the moderates remained inactive. However, in the mid-690s they also started militant activities in response to persecution by Hajjaj. The first of their revolts was led in 695 by Ibn Musarrih, and ended in defeat and Ibn Musarrih's death. Afterward, this Kharijite group became a major threat to Kufa and its suburbs under Shabib. With a small army of a few hundred warriors, Shabib defeated several thousands-strong Umayyad armies in 695–696, looted Kufa's treasury and occupied al-Mada'in. From his base in al-Mada'in, Shabib moved to capture Kufa. Hajjaj had already requested Syrian troops from Abd al-Malik, who sent a 4,000-strong army which defeated Shabib outside Kufa. Shabib drowned in a river during his flight, his band was destroyed, but the Kharijites continued to maintain a presence in the Jazira.


title: Kharijites

text: Distinct Sufriyya and Ibadiyya sects are attested from the early eighth century in North Africa and Oman. The two differed in association with different tribal groups and competed for popular support. During the last days of the Umayyad empire, a major Sufri revolt erupted in Iraq in 744. It was at first led by Sa'id ibn Bahdal al-Shaybani, and after his death from plague, Dahhak ibn Qays al-Shaybani. Joined by many more Sufriyya from other parts of the empire, he captured Kufa in April 745 and later Wasit, which had replaced Kufa as the regional capital under Hajjaj. At this stage even some Umayyad officials, including two sons of former caliphs (Sulayman, son of Hisham and Abd Allah, son of Umar II), recognized him as caliph and joined his ranks. Dahhak captured Mosul, but was killed by the forces of the Caliph Marwan II in 746. His successor, Shayban ibn Abd al-Aziz al-Yashkuri, was driven out from Mosul by Marwan II and fled to Fars to join the Shi'a leader Abd Allah ibn Mu'awiya, who ruled in opposition to the Umayyads. Attacked there by the Umayyads, they dispersed and Shayban fled to Oman, where he was killed by the local leaders around 751. Under the Abbasids, who had toppled the Umayyads in 750, Sufri revolts in the eastern parts of the empire continued for almost two centuries, though at a small scale and were easily put down. However, in revolts led by Abd al-Hamid al-Bajali in 866–877 and by Harun ibn Abd Allah al-Bajali in 880–896, the Kharijites gained control of northern Mesopotamia from the Abbasids and collected taxes.


title: Kharijites

text: By the mid-8th century, the quietist Kharijites appeared in North Africa. They were mostly of Berber origin and were recruited through missionary activity. With the Ibadi–Sufri distinction emergent in this period, the groups with no Ibadi affiliation were associated with the Sufriyya. Around 740, the Sufriyya under the leadership of Maysara al-Matghari had revolted in Tangiers and captured the city from the Umayyads. They marched onto the provincial capital Kairouan, but were unable to capture it. Nevertheless, Sufri disturbances in North Africa continued throughout the Umayyad period. Around 750, the Sufri Midrarids established a dynasty in Sijilmasa, in modern Morocco. The dynasty survived until the Fatimid capture of the city in 909. Nonetheless, the Midrarids continued governing the city under intermittent Fatimid suzerainty until 976. The North African Sufriyya later disappeared, and their remnants were absorbed into the Ibadiyya around the tenth or 11th century.


title: Kharijites

text: In the early eighth century, a proto-Ibadi movement emerged from the Basran moderates. Missionaries were sent to propagate the doctrine in different parts of the empire including Oman, Yemen, Hadramawt, Khurasan, and North Africa. During the final years of the Umayyad Caliphate, the Ibadi propaganda movement caused several revolts in the periphery of the empire, though the leaders in Basra adopted the policy of (also called ); concealing beliefs so as to avoid persecution.


title: Kharijites

text: In 745, Abd Allah ibn Yahya al-Kindi established the first Ibadi state in Hadramawt, and captured Yemen in 746. His lieutenant, Abu Hamza Mukhtar ibn Aws al-Azdi, later conquered Mecca and Medina. The Umayyads defeated and killed Abu Hamza and Ibn Yahya in 748 and the first Ibadi state collapsed. An Ibadi state was established in Oman in 750 after the fall of Abu Yahya, but fell to the Abbasids in 752. It was followed by the establishment of another Ibadi state in 793, which survived for a century until the Abbasid recapture of Oman in 893. Abbasid influence in Oman was mostly nominal, and Ibadi imams continued to wield considerable power. Around a century later, Ibadi leader al-Khalil ibn Shathan al-Kharusi () reasserted control over the central Oman, whereas his successor Rashid ibn Sa'id al-Yahmadi () drove the then Abbasid patrons Buyids out of the coastal region, thereby restoring the Ibadi control of Oman. Internal splits led to fall of the third Ibadi imamate in the late 12th century. Ibadi imamates were reestablished in subsequent centuries. Ibadis form the majority of the Omani population to date.


title: Kharijites

text: Ibadi missionary activity met with considerable success in North Africa. In 757, Ibadis seized Tripoli and captured Kairouan the next year. Driven out by an Abbasid army in 761, Ibadi leaders founded a state, which became known as the Rustamid dynasty, in Tahart. It was overthrown in 909 by the Fatimids. Ibadi communities continue to exist today in the Nafusa Mountains in northwestern Libya, Djerba island in Tunisia and the M'zab valley in Algeria. In East Africa they are found in Zanzibar. Ibadi missionary activity also reached Persia, India, Egypt, Sudan, Spain and Sicily, although Ibadi communities in these regions disappeared over time. The total numbers of the Ibadis in Oman and Africa are estimated to be around 2.5 million and 200,000 respectively.


title: Kharijites

text: The Kharijites did not have a uniform and coherent set of doctrines. Different sects and individuals held different views. Based on these divergences, heresiographers have listed more than a dozen minor Kharijite sects, in addition to the four main sects discussed above.


title: Kharijites

text: In addition to their insistence on rule according to the Qur'an, the view common to all Kharijite groups was that any Muslim was qualified to become caliph, regardless of origin, if he had the credentials of belief and piety. They rejected Qurayshite descent or close kinship with Muhammad as a prerequisite for the office, a view espoused by most Muslims at the time. This differs from the position of both Sunnis, who accepted the leadership of those in power provided that they were Qurayshite, and Shi'a, who asserted that the leadership belonged to Ali and his descendants. The Kharijites held that the first four caliphs had not been elected for their Qurayshite descent or kinship with Muhammad, but because they were among the most eminent and qualified Muslims for the position, and hence were all legitimate caliphs. In particular, they had a high regard for Abu Bakr and Umar as, according to them, they governed justly. Uthman, on the other hand, had deviated from the path of justice and truth in the latter half of his caliphate and was thus liable to be killed or deposed, whereas Ali committed a grave sin when he agreed to the arbitration with Mu'awiya. In contrast to the Umayyad idea that their rule was ordained by God, the Kharijite idea of leadership lacked any divine sanctioning; only correct attitude and piety granted the leader authority over the community. If the leader committed a sin and deviated from the right path or failed to manage Muslims' affairs through justice and consultation, he was obliged to acknowledge his mistake and repent, or else he forfeited his right to rule and was subject to deposition. In the view of the Azariqa and the Najdat, Muslims had the duty to revolt against such a ruler.


title: Kharijites

text: Almost all Kharijite groups considered the position of a leader (imam) to be necessary. Many Kharijite leaders adopted the title of , which was usually reserved for caliphs. An exception are the Najdat, who, as a means of survival, abandoned the requirement of war against non-Kharijites after their defeat in 692, and rejected that the imamate was an obligatory institution. The historian Patricia Crone has described the Najdat's philosophy as an early form of anarchism.


title: Kharijites

text: The Kharijites also asserted that faith without accompanying deeds is useless, and that anyone who commits a major sin is an unbeliever () and must repent to restore the true faith. However, the Kharijite notion of unbelief () differed from the mainstream Muslim definition, which understood a as someone who was a non-Muslim. To the Kharijites, implied a defective Muslim, or pseudo-Muslim, who rejected true Islam. The Azariqa held a more extreme position that such unbelievers were in fact polytheists and apostates who could not reenter Islam and could be killed, along with their women and children. Intermarriage between the Kharijites and such unbelievers was forbidden in the Azariqa doctrine. The Najdat allowed marriages with non-Kharijites. Of the moderates, the Sufriyya and Bayhasiyya considered all non-Kharijite Muslims as unbelievers, but also abstained from taking up arms against them, unless necessary, and allowed intermarriage with them. The Ibadiyya, on the other hand, did not declare the non-Kharijites as polytheists or unbelievers in the general sense, rather as hypocrites (), or ungrateful for God's blessings (). They also permitted marriages outside their own sect.


title: Kharijites

text: The Azariqa and Najdat held that since the Umayyad rulers, and all non-Kharijites in general, were unbelievers, it was unlawful to continue living under their rule (), for that was in itself an act of unbelief. It was thus obligatory to emigrate, in emulation of Muhammad's Hijra to Medina, and establish a legitimate dominion of their own (). The Azariqa prohibited the practice of dissimulation of their faith () and branded non-activist Kharijites (i.e. those who did not emigrate to their camp) as unbelievers. The Najdat allowed and quietism, but labeled their practitioners as hypocrites. The Islamicist Montgomery Watt attributes this moderation of the Najdat stance to practical necessities which they encountered while governing Arabia, as the administration of a large area required flexibility and allowance for human imperfection. The Sufriyya and Ibadiyya held that while the establishment of a legitimate dominion was desirable, it was legal to employ and continue living among the non-Kharijites if rebellion was not possible.


title: Kharijites

text: The Kharijites espoused that all Muslims were equals, regardless of ethnicity and advocated for equal status of the (sing. ; non-Arab, free Muslims of conquered lands, especially Iraq and Persia) with the Arabs. The Najdat chose a , a fruit seller named Thabit, as their leader after Najda's execution. This choice, however, conflicted with their feelings of ethnic solidarity and they soon asked him to step down and choose an Arab leader for them; he chose Abu Fudayk. The leader of the Azariqa, Ibn al-Azraq, is said to have been the son of a of Greek origin. The imams of the North African Kharijites from 740 onwards were all non-Arabs. The Kharijites also advocated for the equality of women with men. On the basis of women fighting alongside Muhammad, the Kharijites viewed jihad as incumbent upon women. The warrior and poet Layla bint Tarif is a famous example. Shabib's wife Ghazala participated in his battles against the troops of Hajjaj. The Kharijites had a scrupulous attitude towards non-Muslims, respecting their dhimmi (protected) status more seriously than others.


title: Kharijites

text: Some of the Kharijites rejected the punishment of adultery with stoning, which is prescribed in other Islamic legal schools. Although the Qur'an does not prescribe this penalty, Muslims of other sects hold that such a verse existed in the Qur'an, which was then abrogated. A hadith is ascribed to Umar, asserting the existence of this verse in the Qur'an. These Kharijites rejected the authenticity of such a verse. The heresiographer al-Ash'ari attributed this position to the Azariqa, who held a strict scripturalist position in legal matters (i.e. following only the Qur'an and rejecting commonly held views if they had no Qur'anic basis), and thus also refused to enforce legal punishment on slanderers when the slander was targeted at a male. The Azariqa instituted the practice of testing the faith of new recruits (), which is said to have involved giving them a prisoner to kill. It was either an occasional practice, as held by Watt, or a later distortion by the heresiographers, as held by Lewinstein. One of the Kharijite groups also refused to recognize the sura (Qur'anic chapter) of as being an original part of the Qur'an, for they considered its content to be worldly and frivolous.


title: Kharijites

text: Many Kharijites were well-versed in traditional Arabic eloquence and poetry, which the orientalist Giorgio Levi Della Vida attributes to the majority of their early leaders being from Bedouin stock. The sermons and poems of many Kharijite leaders were compiled into collections (diwans). Kharijite poetry is mainly concerned with religious beliefs, with piety and activism, martyrdom, selling life to God (), and afterlife being some of the most prominent themes, though the themes of heroism and courage are also evident. Referring to his rebellion, Abu Bilal Mirdas said: "Fear of God and the dread of the fire made me go out, and selling my soul for which has no price [paradise]".


title: Kharijites

text: Some poems encouraged militant activism. Imran ibn Hittan, whom the Arabist Michael Cooperson calls the greatest Kharijite poet, sang after Abu Bilal's death: "Abū Bilāl has increased my disdain for this life; and strengthened my love for the khurūj [rebellion]". The poet Abu'l-Wazi al-Rasibi addressed Ibn al-Azraq, before the latter became activist, with the lines:


title: Kharijites

text: The government was often labelled as tyrannical and obedience to it was criticized. The Kharijite poet Isa ibn Fatik al-Khatti thus sang:


title: Kharijites

text: Many poems were written to eulogize fallen Kharijite activists, and thus represent the romanticized version of actual historical events. The Muhakkima are thus valorized and remembered at many places. The poet Aziz ibn al-Akhnas al-Ta'i eulogized them in the following lines:


title: Kharijites

text: Similarly, Ali's assassin Ibn Muljam was exalted by the poet Ibn Abi Mayyas al-Muradi in the following:


title: Kharijites

text: Kharijite poetry has survived mainly in the non-Kharijite sources, and hence may have been subject to alteration by its transmitters. Nevertheless, the historian Fred Donner believes that Kharijite poetry may have suffered a lesser and "different kind" of interpolation than the historical accounts about the Kharijites. According to Hagemann, poetry is seemingly "the only genuinely Khārijite material" in existence. A modern compilation of Kharijite poetry was published by Ihsan Abbas in 1974.