JĀGĪR (جاگير). Persian Jā, “A place;” Gīr, “Occupying.” A tenure common under the Muḥammadan Government, in which the public revenues of a given tract of land were made over to a servant of the State, together with the powers requisite to enable him to collect and appropriate such revenue, and administer the general government of the district. The assignment was either conditional or unconditional; in the former case, some public service, as the levy and maintenance of troops, or other specified duty, was engaged for; the latter was left to the entire disposal of the grantee. The assignment was either for a stated term, or, more usually, for the lifetime of the holder, lapsing, on his death, to the State, although not unusually renewed to his heir, on payment of a nazarāna or fine, and sometimes specified to be a hereditary assignment, without which specification it was held to be a life-tenure only. (Ben. Reg. xxxvii. 1723, cl. 15.) A Jāgīr was also liable to forfeiture on failure of performance of the conditions on which it was granted, or on the holder’s incurring the displeasure of the Emperor. On the other hand, in the inability of the State to vindicate its rights, a Jāgīr was sometimes converted into a perpetual and transferable estate; and the same consequence has resulted from the recognition of sundry Jāgīr as hereditary by the British Government after the extinction of the Native Governments by which they were originally granted; so that they have now come to be considered as family properties, of which the holders could not be rightfully dispossessed, and to which their legal heirs succeed, as a matter of course, without fine or nazarāna, such having been silently dispensed with. (Wilson’s Glossary of Indian Terms.)
JAHANNAM (جهنم). [[HELL].]
JAHL (جهل). “Ignorance.” A term used by theologians for an ignorance of religious truths, which they say is of two kinds: Jahl-i-Basīt̤, simple ignorance; and Jahl-i-Murakkab, or complicated ignorance, or confirmed error.
JAIFAR (جيفر). A king of ʿUmān to whom Muḥammad sent a despatch inviting him to Islām, which event led eventually to the conversion of that province.
“On his return from the siege of Tâyif, towards the close of the eighth year of the Hegira, Mahomet sent Amru with a despatch to Jeyfar, King of Omân, summoning him and his brother to make profession of the true faith. At first they gave answer ‘that they would be the weakest among the Arabs, if they made another man possessor of their property.’ But as Amru was about to depart, they repented, and, calling him back, embraced Islâm. The people followed their example, and without demur paid their tithes to Amru, who continued till the Prophet’s death to be his representative in Omân.” (Muir’s Life of Mahomet, new ed. p. 471.)
JAIḤŪN (جيحون). The river Jihon, or Bactrus, said to be one of the rivers of Eden. [[EDEN].]
JĀʾ-I-NAMĀZ (جاى نماز). Persian. “The place of prayer.” A term used in Asia for the small mat or carpet on which a Muslim prays. It is called in Arabic Sujjādah and Muṣallā.
The carpet is about five feet in length, and has a point or Qiblah worked in the pattern to mark the place for prostration.
A JA-I-NAMAZ, OR PRAYER CARPET, AS USED IN PESHAWAR.