Table of Contents

  • BALʿAMĪ, ABU’L-FAŻL MOḤAMMAD

    C. E. Bosworth

    B. ʿOBAYD-ALLĀH B. MOḤAMMAD BALʿAMĪ TAMĪMĪ, vizier to the Samanid amir Naṣr b. Aḥmad (r. 913-42), father of the vizier and historian Amirak Baḷʿamī.

  • BĀLANG

    W. Eilers

    citron, the fruit of a species of citrus tree (Citrus medica cedrata). This article discusses the history of the word.

  • BALĀŠ

    M. L. Chaumont, K. Schippmann

    the name of a number of kings and several dignitaries and notables during the Parthian and Sasanian periods. The Parthian form of the name, the oldest, is Walagaš. In Middle Persian it is Wardāxš, in Pahlavi Walāxš.

  • BALĀSAGĀN

    M. L. Chaumont, C. E. Bosworth

     “country of the Balās,” designating a region located for the most part south of the lower course of the rivers Kor (Kura) and the Aras (Araxes), bordered on the south by Atropatene and on the east by the Caspian Sea.  i. In pre-Islamic times.  ii. In Islamic times.

  • BALĀSĀḠŪN

    C. E. Bosworth

    a town of Central Asia, in early Islamic times the main settlement of the region known as Yeti-su or Semirechye “the land of the seven rivers,” now mainly within the eastern part of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

  • BALĀSĀNĪ, MAJD-AL-MOLK ABU’L-FAŻL ASʿAD

    C. E. Bosworth

    B. MOḤAMMAD QOMĪ (d. 1099), mostawfī or financial intendant to the Saljuq sultan Berk-yaruq (Barkīāroq) b. Malekšāh and then vizier.

  • BĀLĀSARĪ

    D. M. MacEoin

    term used by the Shaikhis to distinguish ordinary Shiʿites from members of their own sect. The history of conflicts between the Shaikhi and Shiʿite communities is reviewed.

  • BĀLAVĪ

    cross-reference

    See BĀLAWĪ FAMILY.

  • BALAWASTE

    G. Gropp

    a ruin site in the eastern part of the Khotan oasis, near the village of Domoko. Fragments of manuscripts, pottery, and plaster were found at this site by Sir Mark Aurel Stein on his first and second expeditions in 1900.

  • BĀLAWĪ FAMILY

    R. W. Bulliet

    prominent scholars in Nīšāpūr in the 10th-11th centuries.

  • BĀLAYBALAN LANGUAGE

    C. G. Häberl

    an a priori constructed language combining elements of the grammar of Arabic, Persian, and Turkish, and known principally from a single text, a dictionary.

  • BALDARČĪN

    cross-reference

    See BELDERČĪN.

  • BĀLEḠ

    S. H. Amin

    Ar. “of full age, adult, mature,” in contrast to the term ṣaḡīr (minor): coming of age in Islamic law.

  • BALḴ

    X. de Planhol, C. E. Bosworth, V. Fourniau, D. Balland, F. Grenet

    Within this area and on the irrigated alluvial fan, at a distance of about 12 km from the mountains, the city was built on a site (the Bālā Ḥeṣār of today) which was probably coextensive with a slight rise in the plain and perhaps adjacent to an old arm of the river.

    This Article Has Images/Tables.

  • BALḴĀB

    D. Balland

    (Bactros of the classical authors), the river of Balḵ. This perennial river is a major feature of the geography of northern Afghanistan.

  • BALḴĪ, ABŪ ʿALĪ ABD-ALLĀH

    H. Schützinger

    B. MOḤAMMAD B. ʿALĪ (d. 907-08), a traditionist (moḥaddeṯ) and author.

  • BALḴĪ, ABŪ ʿALĪ-MOḤAMMAD

    cross-reference

    B. AḤMAD. See ʿALĪ B. AḤMAD BALḴĪ.

  • BALḴI, ABU’L-MOʾAYYAD

    Cross-Reference

    See ABU’l-MOʾAYYAD BALḴI.

  • BALḴĪ, ABU’L-QĀSEM ʿABD-ALLĀH AḤMAD

    cross-reference

    B. AḤMAD. See ABU’L-QĀSEM KAʿBĪ.

  • BALUCHISTAN

    Multiple Authors

    generally understood by the Baluch and their neighbors to comprise an area of over half a million square kilometers in the southeastern part of the Iranian plateau, south of the central deserts and the Helmand river, and in the arid coastal lowlands between the Iranian plateau and the Gulf of Oman.