Table of Contents

• ʿABDALLĀH B. ŠĀKER

  D. Pingree

  Expert in geometry (d. 1174-75).

• ʿABDALLĀH B. ṬĀHER

  C. E. Bosworth

  Governor of Khorasan (9th century).

• ʿABDALLĀH BAYĀNĪ

  Cross-Reference

  See ʿABDALLĀH MORVĀRĪD.

• ʿABDALLĀH BEHBAHĀNĪ

  H. Algar

  Theologian, prominent leader of the constitutional movement (1840-1910).

• ʿABDALLĀH BOḴĀRĪ

  P. P. Soucek

  Paintings signed by ʿAbdallāh are of two types: compositions showing strong influence from Herat painting of the late 15th and early 16th centuries and studies of couples, often in a garden setting, a theme which appears to have been especially popular in Bokhara.

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• ʿABDALLĀH HERAVĪ

  P. P. Soucek

  Calligrapher active in Herat, Samarqand, and Mashad (mid-15th century).

• ʿABDALLĀH ḤOSAYNĪ

  P. P. Soucek

  Scribe and poet in the service of the Mughal emperors Akbar and Jahāngīr (17th century).

• ʿABDALLĀH KABRĪ

  D. Pingree

  Mathematician (d. 1083-84).

• ʿABDALLĀH KHAN

  B. W. Robinson

  Court painter (18th-19th century).

• ʿABDALLĀH KHAN B. ESKANDAR

  Yu. Bregel

  Šaybānīd ruler of Transoxania (d. 1598).

• ʿABDALLĀH KHAN UZBEK

  M. H. Siddiqi

  Mughal noble and general and also briefly an autonomous ruler (10th/16th century).

• ʿABDALLĀH MĀZANDARĀNĪ, SHAIKH

  H. Algar

  Theologian and supporter of the constitutional movement (1840-1912).

• ʿABDALLĀH MĪRZĀ DĀRĀ

  Ḥ. Maḥbūbī Ardakānī

  Son of Fatḥ-ʿAlī Shah and governor of Ḵamsa province (1796-1846).

• ʿABDALLĀH MORVĀRĪD

  P. P. Soucek

  (d. 1516), Timurid court official, poet, scribe, and musician.

• ʿABDALLĀH PAŠA KÖPRÜLÜZĀDE

  M. Kohbach

  Ottoman statesman and commander-in-chief (d. 1735).

• ʿABDALLĀH ṢAYRAFĪ

  P. P. Soucek

  Dūst Moḥammad claims that the traditions of Khorasani calligraphy in the nasḵ script are derived from the writing of ʿAbdallāh Ṣayrafī, with Jaʿfar Tabrīzī acting perhaps as the transmitter of the tradition. ʿAbdallāh achieved his greatest fame as a designer of architectural inscriptions.

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• ʿABDALLĀH ŠĪRĀZĪ

  P. P. Soucek

  Qāżī Aḥmad praises ʿAbdallāh’s skill in lacquer painting (rang o rowḡan). This technique was widely used in the decoration of bookbindings during the 16th century, and the examination of surviving bindings may lead to the discovery of further works by ʿAbdallāh.

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• ʿABDALLĀH, MĪRZĀ

  M. Caton

  (ca. 1843-1918), court musician and master of the setār and tār.

• ʿABDALLĀH, QAVĀM-AL-DĪN

  T. Kuroyanagi

  14th century theologian and faqīh of Shiraz (d. 772/1370).

• ʿABDALLĀH, ŠĀH

  K. A. Nizami

  (d. 1485), Persian Sufi who introduced the Šaṭṭārī order into India.

• ʿABDALLĀH, ṢĀRĪ

  T. Yazici

  (1584-1660), Ottoman scholar, mystic, poet, and commentator of Rūmī.

• ʿABDĀN B. AL-RABĪṬ

  W. Madelung

  early Ismaʿili missionary (dāʿī).

• ʿABDĪ

  T. Yazici

  pen name of ʿABD-AL-RAḤMĀN PASHA, Ottoman official and historian (d. 1692).

• ʿABDĪ BOḴĀRĀʾĪ

  M. Zand

  (d. 1921-22), Tajik taḏkeranevīs (biographer) and poet.

• ʿABDĪ NĪŠĀPŪRĪ

  P. P. Soucek

  16th-century calligrapher and poet.

• ʿABDĪ ŠĪRĀZĪ

  M. Dabīrsīāqī and B. Fragner

  (1513-80), poet.

• ABDĪH UD SAHĪGĪH Ī SAGASTĀN

  A. Tafażżolī

  (“The wonder and remarkability of Sagastān”), short Pahlavi treatise.

• ʿĀBEDĪ

  C. E. Bosworth

  a landowner (dehqān) of Transoxania (12th century).

• ĀBƎRƎT

  W. W. Malandra

  one of the eight Zoroastrian priests of the yasna ritual.

• ĀBEŠ ḴĀTŪN

  B. Spuler

   Salghurid ruler of Fārs (1263-84), daughter of Atābeg Saʿd II.

• ABGAR

  J. B. Segal

  dynasty of Edessa, 2nd century B.C. to 3rd century A.D.

• ABHAR

  C. E. Bosworth

  a small town in the Qazvīn district.

• ʿABHAR AL-ʿĀŠEQĪN

  H. Corbin

  work of the Persian mystic Rūzbehān Baqlī Šīrāzī (1128-1209).

• ABHARĪ, ABŪ BAKR

  B. Reinert

  Sufi of Persian ʿErāq (d. 941-42).

• ABHARĪ, AMĪN-AL-DĪN

  D. Pingree

   mathematician, said to have died in 1332-33.

• ABHARĪ, AṮĪR-AL-DĪN

  G. C. Anawati

  (d. 1264), logician, mathematician, and astronomer.

• ABHARĪ, KAMĀL-AL-DĪN

  C. E. Bosworth

  vizier of the last two Great Saljuq sultans in western Persia.

• ABHARĪ, MAḴDŪM

  Hameed ud-Din

  16th-century traditionist.

• ĀBĪ

  E. Ehlers

  Persian term for those agricultural lands which are irrigated.

• ĀBĪ, ABŪ ʿABDALLĀH

  Abu’l-Qāsem Gorji

  8th-century traditionist.

• ĀBĪ, ABŪ SAʿĪD

  M. M. Mazzaoui

  11th-century vizier and man of letters.

• ĀBĪ, ʿEZZ-AL-DĪN

  Abu’l-Qāsem Gorji

  Imami faqīh (jurist) of the 13th century.

• ABIRĀDŪŠ

  M. Dandamayev

  a village in Elam.

• ABIRATTA(Š)

  M. Mayrhofer

  ancient Near Eastern proper name said to be of (Indo-)Aryan origin, by comparison with Vedic ratha, Avestan raθa “chariot.” This analysis, however, remains uncertain.

• ABĪVARD

  C. E. Bosworth

   a town in medieval northern Khorasan.

• ABĪVARDĪ, ABU’L-MOẒAFFAR

  L. A. Giffen

  poet, historian, and writer on genealogy (d. 1113).

• ABĪVARDĪ, ḤOSĀM-AL-DĪN

  L. A. Giffen

  jurisconsult, mathematician and logician (d. 1413).

• ABJAD

  G. Krotkoff

   “alphabet,” a word formed from the first four letters of the Semitic alphabet.

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• ABJADĪ

  M. Baqir

  Poetical name of MĪR MOḤAMMAD ESMĀʿĪL KHAN, 18th century south-Indian poet of Persian and Urdu.

• ABḴĀZ

  Dzh. Giunashvili

  (also APSUA, APSNI), ethnic group of the Caucasus.

• ABLUTION, ISLAMIC

  I. K. Poonawala

  (vożūʾ), the minor ritual purification performed before prayers.

• ABLUTION, ZOROASTRIAN

  Cross-Reference

  See PADYĀB.

• ABNĀʾ

  C. E. Bosworth

  "sons," term for the offspring of Persian soldiers and officials in the Yemen and of Arab mothers.

• ABOULITES

  C. J. Brunner

  satrap of Susiana under Darius III, at the time of the Achaemenid collapse.

• ABRADATAS

  C. J. Brunner

   a fictional king of Susa in Xenophon’s fictional, didactic life of Cyrus (Cyropaedia, books 5-7).

• ABRAHAM

  Cross-Reference

  See EBRĀHĪM.

• ABRAHAM OF CRETE

  George A. Bournoutian

  (Kretatsʾi; b. Kandia, Crete, ?- d. Ejmiatsin, 18 April 1737), a leader of the Armenian Church and the author of a chronicle about Nāder Shah Afšār.

• ABRAHAM OF EREVAN

  George A. Bournoutian

  the author of a history of the wars in Armenian at the time of Nāder Shah Afšār.

• ABRAHAM OF KAŠKAR

  Florence Jullien

  Christian monk of the 6th century CE, regarded as father of the monks in the Orient.

• ABRAHAMIAN, ROUBEN

  Jennifer Manoukian

  Armenian Iranist, linguist, and translator. One of the first teachers of Pahlavi language at University of Tehran.

• ABRĀZ

  C. J. Brunner

  Middle Persian “high, superior, height,” old Iranian *uparyānk- “above, high.”

• ABRĪŠAM

  W. Eilers, M. Bazin and C. Bromberger, D. Thompson

  Abrīšam appears as a loan word from Iranian in Armenian aprišum, aprešum, Syriac/Mandean ʾbryšwm, and Arabic ebrīsam. The NPers. rēšam/rīšam is evidently only a shortened form of abrēšam. In dialects one also finds čolla (borrowed in Turkic dialects as čille), from *čullak, arabicized as ṣollaǰ, properly speaking, “very fine cotton.”

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• ĀBRĪZAGĀN

  M. Boyce

  “the pouring of water,” name for a Zoroastrian feast; the term could be used for Tīragān and probably also for the name-day festival of Hordād, both of which were celebrated by people sprinkling one another joyfully with water.

• ĀšBRĪZĀN

  Cross-Reference

  See TĪRAGĀN.

• ABROCOMAS

  M. Dandamayev

  Persian satrap of Syria and commander under Artaxerxes II.

• ABROCOMES

  M. Dandamayev

  a son of Darius I by Phrataguna, daughter of his brother Artanes.

• ĀBŠĪNA HAMADĀN RŪD

  E. Ehlers

  name of a drainage system that covers several streams and small rivers along the eastern flank of the Alvand Kūh; it flows north into the kavīr of Qom.

• ĀBŠŪR RŪD

  E. Ehlers

  “salt river.” The name ābšūr is very common in Iran for those rivers with a high salt content.

• ĀBTĪN

  A. Tafażżolī

  father of the mythical king Feridun of the Pišdādi dynasty.

• ABŪ ʿABD-AL-RAḤMĀN SOLAMĪ

  S. Sh. Kh. Hussaini

  (325-412/937-1021), Sufi, traditionist, and hagiographer.

• ABŪ ʿABDALLĀH B. AL-BAYYEʿ

  R. W. Bulliet

  a noted traditionist and local historian, b. 321/933, d. 405/1014.

• ABŪ ʿABDALLĀH YAʿQŪB

  D. Sourdel

  vizier of the ʿAbbasid caliph Mahdī (r. 158-69/775-85).

• ABŪ AḤMAD B. ABĪ BAKR KĀTEB

  C. E. Bosworth

  poet and official of the Samanids, fl. first half of the 4th/10th century.

• ABŪ AḤMAD MONAJJEM

  A. E. Khairallah

  (241/855-56 to 13 Rabīʿ I 300/29 October 912), literary historian, music theorist, poet, and Muʿtazilite, boon companion to caliphs Mowaffaq, Moʿtażed, and Moktafī.

• ABŪ ʿALĪ AḤMAD B. ŠĀḎĀN

  C. E. Bosworth

  governor (ʿamīd) of Balḵ and northern Afghanistan under the Saljuq ruler of Khorasan, Čaḡrī Beg Dāʾūd, and then under his son, Alp Arslan.

• ABŪ ʿALĪ BALḴĪ

  Dj. Khaleghi-Motlagh

  author of a Šāh-nāma, according to Bīrūnī (Āṯār al-bāqīa, pp. 99f.).

• ABŪ ʿALĪ DĀMḠĀNĪ

  C. E. Bosworth

  vizier of the Samanids in the last years of their power.

• ABŪ ʿALĪ DAQQĀQ

  J. Chabbi

  ascetic of Nīšāpūr (d. 405/1015).

• ABŪ ʿALĪ FĀRESĪ

  I. Abbas

  (288-377/900-87), grammarian at the court of the Buyid ʿAżod-al-dawla (d. 366/977).

• ABŪ ʿALĪ MESKAWAYH

  Cross-Reference

  Persian chancery official and treasury clerk of the Buyid period, boon companion, litterateur and accomplished writer in Arabic on a variety of topics, including history, theology, philosophy and medicine (d. 421/1030). See MESKAWAYH, ABU ʿALI AḤMAD.

• ABŪ ʿALĪ QALANDAR

  Kh. A. Nizami

  (also known as SHAH BŪ ʿALĪ QALANDAR), Indian poet and saint, d. 725/1324. His mausoleum at Panipat remains a popular center for pilgrimage.

• ABŪ ʿAMR AL-MĀZOLĪ

  J. van Ess

  Karrāmī theologian, fl. mid-4th/mid-10th century.

• ABŪ ʿAṬĀ

  G. Tsuge

  one of the twelve modes in the dastgāh system of classical Iranian music; more precisely, it should be called āvāz-e Abū ʿAṭā or naḡma-ye Abū ʿAṭā.

• ABŪ ʿAWĀNA

  J. A. Wakin

  a Shafeʿite legal scholar and traditionist.

• ABŪ ʿAWN

  R. W. Bulliet

  a distinguished ʿAbbasid general, twice governor of Egypt and once of Khorasan.

• ABŪ BAKR AL-WARRĀQ

  B. Reinert

  Sufi shaikh, born in Termeḏ, lived and worked in Balḵ, d. 280/893.

• ABŪ BAKR B. ABĪ ṢĀLEḤ

  C. E. Bosworth

  vizier of the Ghaznavids in the 5th/11th century.

• ABŪ BAKR B. PAHLAVĀN

  Cross-Reference

  See ATĀBAKĀN-E ĀḎARBĀYJĀN.

• ABŪ BAKR B. SAʿD

  B. Spuler

  (623-58/1226-60), member of the Salghurid dynasty, atabeg of Fārs.

• ABŪ BAKR ḤAṢĪRĪ

  Ḡ. Ḥ. Yūsofī

  Shafeʿite faqīh (jurist) and Ghaznavid official, d. 424/1033.

• ABŪ BAKR KALĀBĀḎĪ

  W. Madelung

  author of the well-known compendium of Sufism al-Taʿarrof le-maḏhab ahl al-taṣawwof.

• ABŪ BAKR MARVAZĪ

  A. A. Ivanov

  7th/13th century metalworker.

• ABŪ BAKR NAYSĀBŪRĪ

  M. J. McDermott

  a jurist loosely belonging to the Shafeʿite school.

• ABŪ BAKR QOHESTĀNĪ

  Ḡ. Ḥ. Yūsofī

   fl. 5th/11th century, a courtier and man of letters under the Ghaznavids and Saljuqs; himself a poet, he patronized poetry generously.

• ABŪ BAKR SAMARQANDĪ

  I. Abbas

  (d. 268/881), a Hanafite jurist about whose life the available sources furnish no information.

• ABŪ BAKR SARAḴSĪ

  J. W. Clinton

  a follower (but apparently not a contemporary) of Shaikh Abū Saʿīd b. Abi’l-Ḵayr (d. 440/1049).

• ABŪ BAKR ṬŪSĪ ḤAYDARĪ

  B. Lawrence

  7th/13th century Indo-Muslim saint.

• ABŪ ḎARR BŪZJĀNĪ

  M. N. Osmanov

  a Persian poet and Sufi shaikh contemporary with Sebüktigin (d. 387/997).

• ABŪ ḎARR HERAVĪ

  J. A. Wakin

  a traditionist known primarily for his role in the transmission of Boḵārī’s Jāmeʿ al-ṣaḥīḥ.

• ABŪ DOLAF AL-YANBŪʿĪ

  R. W. Bulliet

  Arab traveler, poet, and frequenter of the Buyid court (ca. mid-4th/10th century).