ʿALĪŠĀH, TĀJ-AL-DĪN, vizier of the two Il-khans Ölǰeytü (r. 703-17/1304-16) and Abū Saʿīd (r. 717-36/1317-35). In his youth as a textile merchant and jeweler he played an important part in the development of the new capital Solṭānīya. In 710/1311, he was made vizier along with Ḵᵛāǰa Rašīd-al-dīn and Saʿd-al-dīn Sāvaǰī; the latter was executed in 711/1312 for his part in an intrigue. Thus ʿAlīšāh (with his own nāʾeb) became Rašīd-al-dīn’s companion and rival. However, Ölǰeytü retained them both as advisers; he tried dividing the affairs of state, or the realm itself, between them, or allowing them to hold office for alternate years. When he died, ʿAlīšāh accused Rašīd-al-dīn of having poisoned him; in the end Rašīd-al-dīn was executed (18 Jomādā I 718/15 July 1318). ʿAlīšāh was now the sole minister and acted as counselor to the new ruler along with Amīr Čūbān (Čoban), on whose behalf he had put in a good word. He is said to have devoted much effort to the dissemination of Islam among the Mongols. ʿAlīšāh retained the confidence of Abū Saʿīd during the next few years, which were troubled by all manner of unrest and border conflicts. He died at the beginning of 724/1324, the first vizier of the Il-khans to die a natural death, as the sources emphasize. Abū Saʿīd visited him shortly before the end.
See also Arg-e ʿAlīšāh.
Bibliography:
Waṣṣāf, Taǰzīat al-amṣār, lithograph, Bombay, pp. 537-42; 638-40.
Qāšānī, Tārīḵ-e Solṭān Ölǰeytü, Paris ms., suppl. persan 1419, fols. 82r-83v, 126v-129v; ed. and tr., with commentary by M. Parvisi-Berger, Die Chronik des Qāšānī . . ., thesis, Göttingen, 1968, text, pp. 120-129, 178ff., 197-200; tr. pp. 109-16, 154ff., 166-69.
Ḥāfeẓ-e Abrū, Ḏayl-e Jāmeʿ al-tawārīḵ, Vienna ms. Mixt. 327, fols. 14v ff., 19v ff., 32v-34r, 41r. Tārīḵ-e gozīda I, pp. 597ff., 604ff.
Mofażżal b. Abi’l-Fażāʾel, Histoire des Sultans Mamloukks, ed.
E. Blochet, Patrologia Orientalis, Part III = Vol. XX, 1928, pp. 214ff.
Spuler, Mongolen3, index (contains references to older studies).
ʿA. Eqbāl, Tārīḵ-e mofaṣṣal-e Īrān az estīlā-ye Moḡol tā eʿlān-e mašrūṭīyat I, 2nd ed., Tehran, 1341 Š./1962, pp. 318ff.
(B. Spuler)
Originally Published: December 15, 1985
Last Updated: August 2, 2011
This article is available in print.
Vol. I, Fasc. 8, p. 887
B. Spuler, “ʿALĪŠĀH, TĀJ-AL-DĪN,” Encyclopædia Iranica, I/8, p. 887, available online at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/alisah-taj-al-din-vizier (accessed on 30 December 2012).
