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Ābaskūn or Ābuskūn, or Ābiskūn or Abaskūn, an island or an ancient port on the southeast of the Caspian Sea and northwest of Astarābād at the mouth of the Gurgān river, at 79° 45’ eastern longtitude and 37° 10' northern latitude, as calculated by the classical geographers (Abū al-Fidāʾ, 36; Wuthūq Zamānī, 29, quoting from Khwāja Naṣīr al-Dīn al-Ṭūsī). Despite this, its exact location is now unknown. It has been suggested that Ābaskūn was situated on the site of the present-day village of Khwāja Nifis or on the Āshūrādih islands; or its whereabouts are connected to the Sokānda …

Āq Shams al-Dīn (in Turkish Akşemseddin), Muḥammad b. Ḥamza al-Dimashqī (792–863/1390–1459), Sufi and celebrated physician. He is thought to have been one of the descendants of Shaykh Shihāb al-Dīn Suhrawardī, but it is not clear whether this Shihāb al-Dīn was the ‘Master of Illumination’ (Shaykh al-Ishrāq) or the jurist and Sufi from Baghdad. He was born in Damascus. During his childhood he went with his father to Anatolia, where he commenced his education. After completing his studies, he became…

Al-Āmidī, Sayf al-Dīn Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī b. Abī ʿAlī b. Muḥammad b. Sālim al-Taghlabī (or al-Thaʿlabī) (551–631/1156–1234), was a physician, philosopher, theologian and jurist, who served at the Ayyūbid (q.v.) court in the late 6th–7th/12th–13th century and became a well-known teacher and author (Ibn Khallikān, 3/294; Ibn Abī Uṣaybiʿa, 3(1)/285). Born at Āmid in upper Mesopotamia in 551/1156 (al-Qifṭī, 240; Ibn Khallikān, 3/294), he first learned the Qurʾān and studied a major juridical work of t…

Ḥammawayh Family (written as ḥmwya, al-ḥmwwyh, al-ḥmwwʾy, al-ḥmwyy; vocalised variously as Ḥamūya, Ḥamawayh, Ḥamuwayī, Ḥamawiyya, Ḥamuwī, Ḥamūyaʾī, etc.), were members of a family of Shāfiʿī scholars that produced noted traditionists, jurists, and Sufis. They originated in the Juwayn region of Khurāsān. Members of the family migrated to Greater Syria and Egypt, where they became influential and high-ranking officials in the service of the Ayyūbids. The family’s origin has been debated by schol…