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al-Ḥasan al-ʿAskarī, Imam Abū Muḥammad Ḥasan b. ʿAlī b. Muḥammad (232–260/826–874), eleventh Imam of the Ithnāʿasharī (Twelver) Shiʿis.NAMESThe tenth Imam, the father of Imam al-Ḥasan al-ʿAskarī, was known by the honorary title ( laqab) of Muḥammad al-Hādī and also as Muḥammad al-Taqī. Imam Ḥasan’s mother, according to Ithnāʿasharī sources, was a slave named Ḥudayth (al-Kulaynī, 1/503; al-Mufīd, al-Irshād, 2/313; al-Ṭūsī, al-Tadhhīb, 6/92), and possibly of North African origin (al-Ṭabarī, Dalāʾil, 424; Ibn Ḥātim, 737). Various alternatives for her name indicat…

Ḥusām al-Dīn’s father, who was a shaykh or elder of the fityān or akhīs (q.v. members of the futuwwa movement, an urban order of chivalry and spirituality) had a zāwiya (lodge) in the environs of Konya. He was known as Akhī Turk, for which reason his son became known as Ibn Akhī Turk (Furūzānfar, 103–104; Gölpınarlı, Mawlānā Jalāl al-Dīn, 196–197). Ḥusām al-Dīn lost his father while in his teens, and according to Aflākī was then chosen by the fityān to be his successor; instead, however, he brought them to see Mawlānā Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī (Aflākī, 738). Unbidden, he then han…

Hujwīrī, Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī b. ʿUthmān b. ʿAlī Ghaznawī Jullābī (d. late 5th/11th century), known in the Indian subcontinent mainly by the name Dātā Ganjbakhsh, was one of the eminent Sufis and authors of that century. Nothing is known of his life and career apart from what he himself relates in his treatise Kashf al-maḥjūb, the work for which he is famous. Biographical works dating from, or shortly after, his lifetime merely mention his name (ʿAṭṭār, 68); those of later date do not go beyond relaying information gleaned from Kashf al-maḥjūb. The sources commonly add a title of honou…

Ḥamza-nāmah, a lengthy folk epic concerning Ḥamza b. ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib (q.v.), the paternal uncle of the Prophet Muḥammad, and comprising fictional accounts of extraordinary adventures and martial exploits attributed to him. Ḥamzah-nāmah is the best-known Islamic prose epic in the Persianate world; versions exist in various languages and titles, originating from regions extending from the Persianate and Arab worlds to Turkey, the Caucasus, the subcontinent, Indonesia, and North Africa. According to the British writer Will…

Ḥamza Fanṣūrī, a well-known Malay Sufi shaykh and author from Aceh, Indonesia. Very little is known of his life story, and any particulars can only be inferred from various sources: scattered passages in his writings, poems by his students, other writers’ commentaries on his poems, and the accounts of contemporary European travellers who visited Aceh. Scholars differ as to the reliability of the last-mentioned; some believe them to be more imaginary than factual (Braginsky, ‘Towards the Biography’, 137, 143–165).Such evidence as we have suggests that Ḥamza Fanṣūrī lived …

Ḥamza al-Iṣfahānī, Abū ʿAbd Allāh Ḥamza b. Ḥasan Iṣfahānī (280–351/893–962), a Persian historian, man of letters and philologist.Life, career and thoughtAlthough he is a well-known figure, little is known about his life. He is mentioned by Arab biographical writers such as ʿAbd al-Malik al-Thaʿālibī in Thimār al-qulūb (143, 309, and 367), Yāqūt al-Ḥamawī in Muʿjam al-buldān (1/144, 4/75, and 7/108), and Ibn Khallikān in Wafayāt (2/245, 7/109). However, although they give plenty of information concerning his writings, and in some cases recount narratives ab…

1. Calligraphy in the Arab WorldThrough the spread of the Arab people a new language and alphabet found their way to a large area of the world, from Spain to Turkistan, along with a new religious dispensation. This article considers the art of handwriting, as distinct from details of the history of Arabic writing systems. The Arabic letters readily lend themselves to a wide variety of expressive forms, not only in manuscripts and other written documents but also in architectural and other inscription…

Ḥāfiẓ, Shams al-Dīn Muḥammad of Shīrāz (d. ca. 791/1389), a world-renowned Persian lyrical poet, is universally regarded as one of the greatest exponents of the ghazal form. Among the most distinctive features of the poetry of Ḥāfiẓ is his exploration of mystical themes, often ambiguously couched in the language of worldly love and carousing; his espousal of the values of the Malāmatī Sufis, who actively sought public disapproval as a safeguard against ostentatious piety and hypocrisy; his exquisite sensibility as…