Table of Contents

  • ĀFĪ, ALLĀHYĀR KHAN

    Z. Ahmad

    Poet, son of Nawwāb Amīr-al-dawla, the founder of the state of Tonk (b. 1233/1817-18, d. 21 Ramażān 1278/22 March 1861).

  • ʿAFĪF

    N. H. Zaidi

    (d. ca. 1399), author of Tārīḵ-e Fīrūzšāhī, a Persian life of Fīrūz Shah Toḡloq (r. 1351-88).

  • AFIFI, RAḤIM

    Jalal Matini

    (d. 1996), scholar and author of lexical guides and handbooks of mythology. 

  • AFLĀKĪ

    T. Yazici

    author of texts on the virtues of Jalāl-al-dīn Rūmī and his disciples (13th-14th centuries).

  • AFNĀN

    M. Momen

    (“twigs” or “branches”), term used in the Bahaʾi faith (initially by Bahāʾallāh) to designate certain lines of descent in the maternal family of the Bāb.

  • AFRĀ

    A. Parsa

    Persian term for the maple tree (genus Acer), also embracing a few shrubs of the family Aceraceae.

  • AFRAHĀṬ

    J. P. Asmussen

    name attested in Syriac (ʾfrhṭ) of a number of Iranian Christian churchmen.

  • AFRAHĀṬ, YAʿQŪB

    J. P. Asmussen

    Persian bishop of the mid-4th century CE, author in Syriac.

  • AFRĀSĪĀB

    E. Yarshater

    By far the most prominent of Turanian kings, Afrāsīāb is depicted in Iranian tradition as a formidable warrior and skillful general; an agent of Ahriman, he is endowed with magical powers and bent on the destruction of Iranian lands.

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  • AFRĀSĪĀB i. The Archeological Site

    G. A. Pugachenkova and Ī. V. Rtveladze

    the ruined site of ancient and medieval Samarqand in the northern part of the modern town.

  • AFRĀSIĀB ii. Wall Paintings

    Matteo Compareti

    The Afrāsiāb wall paintings refer to 7th-century Sogdian murals, discovered in 1965 in the residential part of ancient Samarqand (Samarkand).

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  • AFRĀSĪĀBIDS

    Cross-Reference

    See ĀL-E AFRĀSĪĀB (1).

  • AFRASIYABIDS

    Cross-Reference

    See ĀL-E AFRĀSĪĀB (1).

  • AFRĀŠTA, MOḤAMMAD-ʿALĪ

    B. Sholevar and H. Javadi

    poet, writer and satirist (1908-1959).

  • ĀFRĪD

    J. P. Asmussen

    5th-century Christian bishop of Sagastān.

  • AFRĪDĪ

    C. M. Kieffer

    (singular -ay), designation of a major Paṧtūn tribe in northwest Pakistan, with a few members in Afghanistan.

  • AFRIGHID DYNASTY

    Cross-Reference

    See ĀL-E AFRĪḠ.

  • AFRIḠIDS

    Cross-Reference

    See ĀL-E AFRIḠ.

  • ĀFRĪN

    F. M. Kotwal and J. W. Boyd

    “blessing,” benedictory prayers said at the conclusion of every Zoroastrian ceremony of blessings (āfrinagān).

  • ĀFRĪNAGĀN

    M. F. Kanga

    a term for one of the outer Zoroastrian liturgical services.

  • AFŠĀN

    P. P. Soucek

    (“sprinkling”), the decoration of paper with flecks of gold and silver, sometimes called zarafšān “gold sprinkling.”

  • AFŠĀR

    P. Oberling

    one of the 24 original Ḡuz Turkic tribes.

  • AFŠĀR, AḤMAD SOLṬĀN

    Cross-Reference

    See AḤMAD SOLṬĀN.

  • AFŠĀR, ḤĀJJĪ BĀBĀ

    Ḥ. Maḥbūbī Ardakānī

    court physician under Moḥammad Shah Qāǰār.

  • AFŠĀRĪ

    H. Farhat

    one of the twelve dastgāhs or modal systems of classical Iranian music. In the contemporary tradition, Afšārī is customarily classified as a derivative of the dastgāh Šūr. In fact, however, Afšārī is quite independent and possesses its own modal characteristics as well as its own forūd (cadence) pattern.

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  • AFSHARIDS

    J. R. Perry

    actual power was exercised for most of this sixty years not by the nominal ruler but by military leaders or other court factions, and for a brief time by Solaymān II, whose reign was an attempted Safavid restoration. The remaining parts of Nāder’s empire were now the sphere of the Zand dynasty in western Iran.

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  • AFŠĪN

    C. E. Bosworth

    princely title of the rulers of Ošrūsana at the time of the Muslim conquest, the most famous of whom was Ḵeyḏār (Ḥaydar) b. Kāvūs, d. Šaʿbān, 226/May-June, 841.

  • AFŠĪN B. DĪVDĀD

    ʿA. Kārang and F. R. C. Bagley

    founder of the semi-independent Sajid dynasty in Azerbaijan (r. 276/889-90-317/929).

  • AFSŪS

    M. Baqir

    (AFSŌS), the taḵalloṣ of MĪR ŠĪR-ʿALĪ, late 18th century poet and translator of India.

  • ĀFTĀB

    L. P. Elwell-Sutton

    (“Sun”), name of several Persian periodicals.

  • AFTARĪ

    G. L. Windfuhr

    the dialect of Aftar (population about 1,200), located at lat 35°39′ N, long 53°07′ E in the mountains one kilometer west of the Semnān-Fīrūzkūh road to Māzandarān. Historical phonology shows Aftarī as a Northwest (i.e. non-Perside) dialect of Iranian.

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  • AFTĪMŪN

    A. Parsa

    a medicinal herb.

  • ĀFURIŠN

    W. Sundermann

    “blessing, praise,” a technical, literary term for a category of Manichean hymns. 

  • AFUŠTAʾI NAṬANZI, MAḤMUD

    Kioumars Ghereghlou

    (d. after 1599), poet and historian of the Safavid period, author of the chronicle Noqāwat al-āṯār.

  • AFYŪN

    S. Shahnavaz

    "opium," its production and commerce in Iran.

  • AFŻAL AL-ḤOSAYNĪ

    P. P. Soucek

    painter active during the reign of Shah ʿAbbās II (1052-77/1642-66).

  • AFŻAL AL-TAWĀRIK

    Charles Melville

    title of a chronicle of the Safavid dynasty, composed by Fażli b. Zayn-al-ʿĀbedin b. Ḵᵛāja Ruḥ-Allāh Ḵuzāni Eṣfahāni.

  • AFŻAL BEG QĀQŠĀL

    W. Kirmani

    South Indian taḏkera writer.

  • AFŻAL KHAN

    W. E. Begley

    title of MOLLĀ ŠOKRALLĀH ŠĪRĀZĪ, Mughal court official (ca. 978-1048/1570-1639). 

  • AFŻAL KHAN ḴAṬAK

    J. Enevoldsen

    (b. 1075/1664-65), chief of the Ḵaṭak tribe, Pashto poet, and author ofTārīḵ-emoraṣṣaʿ.

  • AFŻAL KHAN, AMIR MOḤAMMAD

    ʿA. Ḥabībī

    (1220-84/1814-67), governor of Balḵ and for a short time ruler of Afghanistan.

  • AFŻAL-AL-DĪN KĀŠĀNĪ

    Cross-Reference

    See BĀBĀ AFŻAL.

  • AFŻAL-AL-DĪN KERMĀNĪ

    M. E. Bāstānī Pārīzī

    writer, poet, and physician of Kermān in the 6th and early 7th/12th and early 13th centuries.

  • AFŻAL-AL-DĪN TORKA

    R. Quiring-Zoche

    name of three figures from Isfahan.

  • AFŻAL-AL-MOLK KERMĀNI, ḠOLĀM-ḤOSAYN

    James M. Gustafson

    ḠOLĀM-ḤOSAYN (1862-1929), Persian historian, bureaucrat, and poet.

  • AFZARĪ

    Cross-Reference

    See ABZARĪ, ḴᵛĀJA ʿAMĪD-AL-DĪN.

  • ĀḠĀ BOZORG TEHRĀNĪ

    Cross-Reference

    See ĀQĀ BOZORG TEHRĀNĪ.

  • ĀḠĀ MOḤAMMAD KHAN QĀJĀR

    J. R. Perry

    (r. 1789-97), founder of the Qajar dynasty.

  • AḠĀČ ERĪ

    P. Oberling

    a tribe of mixed ethnic origin living in eastern Ḵūzestān.

  • ĀḠĀJĀRĪ

    J. Qāʾem-Maqāmī

    town in Ḵūzestān and district (bakš) in the county (šahrestān) of Behbahān, situated seventy-eight km to the northwest of the city of Behbahān.