ĀZĀD FĪRŪZ, governor of Bahrain and the surrounding area in the time of Ḵosrow (probably Ḵosrow II Parvēz). His name occurs as Āzād Ferūz (variants Azād Afrūz, Azād Fīrūz, both unpointed; Ṭabarī, I, p. 985), Azād Fīrūz (Ebn al-Aṯīr [repr.], I, p. 468), Dād Ferūz (Ḥamza, pp. 138, 143), and Fīrūz (Balāḏorī, Fotūḥ, p. 85). The original form was probably Āzād Pērōz, Arabicized as Āzād Ferūz and Dād Ferūz, apparently a misreading for Zād Ferūz (Zād being a shortened form of Āzād). The Arabs called him Mokaʿber (mutilator) because he would cut off peoples’ hands and feet (Ṭabarī, ibid.). According to the tradition, a caravan of tributes sent by Vahrēz, the Sasanian governor of Yemen, to Ḵosrow II (see below) was raided in the territories of Banū Yarbūʿ (one of the tribes of the Tamīm), whereupon Ḵosrow ordered Āzād Fīrūz, the son of Gošnasp (Ar. Jošnas, Jošnasf [Ḥamza], Jošayš [Balāḏorī]) to chastise this tribe. Once the Banū Tamīm went to Hajar, Āzād Fīrūz invited them into the castle of Mošaqqar, where he killed all their men and sent all their boys in captivity to Eṣṭaḵr (Ṭabarī, ibid.; Ebn al-Aṯīr, ibid.; Nöldeke, Geschichte der Perser, pp. 259ff.) Ṭabarī places this event in the time of Ḵosrow I (r. 531-79); and Baḷʿamī (Tārīḵ, p. 1075) and Ebn al-Aṯīr have followed him. However, others (e.g., Ḥamza, p. 143, and Yāqūt, III, p. 401) have placed the event in the time of Ḵosrow II (r. 590-628). This seems more plausible, because Āzād Fīrūz lived until the time of the caliphate of ʿOmar and converted to Islam (Balāḏorī, ibid.), and because also some other individuals mentioned in connection with these events lived past the time of the death of Moḥammad (Nöldeke, op. cit., p. 257 n. 3).
Bibliography:
See also Justi, Namenbuch, p. 53.
Search terms:
| آزاد فیروز | azad firouz | aazaad firooz | azad firouz |
| aazaad firoz |
(A. Tafażżolī)
Originally Published: December 15, 1987
Last Updated: August 18, 2011
This article is available in print.
Vol. III, Fasc. 2, p. 173
