Encyclopaedia Iranica Online

an Iranian middle personal name; Baat is the name of a disciple of Mani mentioned in the Coptic “crucifixion narrative”. The word is borrowed in Armenian in the form “Bat” which translates to the name of the “nahapet” (family head). A version of this article is available in print Volume III, Fascicle 3, pp. 277 i. Baat in Iranian Sources Baat is the name of a disciple of Mani mentioned several times in the Coptic “crucifixion narrative,” where it is spelt Baat and (perhaps) Badia (H. J. Polotsky, Manichäische Homilien, Stuttgart, 1934, pp. 44.22, 45.5, 46.13), and in Parthian fragme…

“door, gate, entrance,” a term of varied application in Shiʿism and related movements. A version of this article is available in print Volume III, Fascicle 3, pp. 277-278 BĀB “door, gate, entrance”: a term of varied application in Shiʿism and related movements. It is applied differently in several sects to a rank in the spiritual hierarchy, either as conceived in transcendent terms or as actually manifested in the religious system on earth. Thus, the Ismaʿili hierarchy of ḥodūd al-dīn includes the bāb as fourth in rank after prophet, asās, and emām (Hollister, p. 260), while under th…

Title given to certain Sufi shaikhs of Central Asia. A version of this article is available in print Volume III, Fascicle 3, pp. 278 BĀB, a title given to certain Sufi shaikhs of Central Asia. It appears to be a localized variant of bābā (father), a much more widely used appellation of Sufi elders, for bāb also is said to have the sense of father (see Borhān-e qāṭeʿ, ed. Moʿīn, I, p. 201). Hojvīrī (d. ca. 464/1071) writes of a certain Bāb ʿOmar, from the village of Salāmatak in the region of Farḡāna, and remarks that “all the dervishes and great shaikhs of that area are called bāb” ( Kašf al-maḥjūb, Sam…

MĪRZĀ. See ḤAKĪMBĀŠĪ.

(d. ca. 1213-14) poet and author of philosophical works in Persian. His works suggest a disdain for officials, and his tomb in Maraq is still a place of pilgrimage. A version of this article is available in print Volume III, Fascicle 3, pp. 285-291 BĀBĀ AFŻAL-AL- DĪN MOḤAMMAD B. ḤASAN MARAQĪ KĀŠĀNĪ, known as Bābā Afżal, poet and author of philosophical works in Persian. Several dates have been suggested for his death, the most likely being 610/1213-14 (M.-T. Modarres Rażawī, Aḥwāl wa āṯār-e … Naṣīr-al-Dīn [Ṭūsī], Tehran, 1354 Š./1975, p. 207; cf. J. Rypka, “Bābā Afḍal,” in EI2 I, pp. 838-39…

See JŪYĀ.

Ancient city in Dāḡestān on the western shore of the Caspian Sea, located at the entrance to the narrow pass between the Caucasus foothills and the sea. See DARBAND (1).

Persian poet of the 15th and 16th centuries, who wrote under his last name and also the pen-name Sakkaki. A version of this article is available in print Volume III, Fascicle 3, pp. 291 BĀBĀ FAḠĀNĪ, a Persian poet in the 9th/15th and early 10th/16th centuries. Born and brought up at Shiraz, he began work as a cutler in his father’s and brother’s shop. For this reason he chose the pen-name Sakkākī, but later on he used Faḡānī instead. After the sultan Yaʿqūb Bāyondorī (Āq Qoyunlū) had given him the title bābā (an appellation of leading dervishes and qalandars), he was most widely known as Bāb…

a major Shaikh of the Češtīya mystic order, born in the last quarter of the 12th century in Kahtwāl near Moltān, Punjab. See GANJ-E ŠAKAR, Farid-al-Din Masʿud.

11th-century mausoleum in northern Afghanistan, some 40 miles west of Balḵ. It follows the simple plan of the earliest Islamic mausoleums in the Iranian world—a single square room with a cupola resting on squinches. A version of this article is available in print Volume III, Fascicle 3, pp. 291-292 BĀBĀ ḤĀTEM, 5/11th-century mausoleum in northern Afghanistan, popularly known as Bābā Ḥātom, at some 40 miles west of Balḵ (A. S. Melikian-Chirvani, “Remarques préliminaires sur un mausolée ghaznévide,” Arts Asiatiques 17, 1968, pp. 59-92). It follows the simple plan of the ear…

18th-century author of a versified history of the Jews of Kāšān with brief references to the Jews of Isfahan and one or two other towns. A version of this article is available in print Volume III, Fascicle 3, pp. 297 BĀBĀʾĪ BEN FARHĀD, eighteenth-century author of a versified history of the Jews of Kāšān with brief references to the Jews of Isfahan and one or two other towns. Next to nothing is known about him except that he was probably a leader of the Jewish community in Kāšān and that he, together with other Jews of Kāšān, was conver…

Jewish poet and historian of Kāšān during the first half of the 17th century (d. after 1662). A version of this article is available in print Volume III, Fascicle 3, pp. 297-298 BĀBĀʾĪ BEN LOṬF, the Jewish poet and historian of Kāšān during the first half of the 11th/17th century (d. after 1073/1662). According to his own words, he, along with the Jews of Kāšān, was forced to embrace Islam and was, for some years, openly a Muslim while retaining secretly his Jewish faith. He was unable to emigrate to Baghdad on account of his ad…

rabbi ( ḥāḵām) from Isfahan; at the behest of Nāder Shah Afšār (r. 1736-47), he translated the Pentateuch and the Psalms of David from Hebrew into Persian. A version of this article is available in print Volume III, Fascicle 3, pp. 298 BĀBĀʾĪ BEN NŪRĪʾEL, a rabbi ( ḥāḵām) from Isfahan who, at the behest of Nāder Shah Afšār (r. 1148-60/1736-47), translated the Pentateuch and the Psalms of David from Hebrew into Persian. Three other rabbis helped him in the translation, which was begun in Rabīʿ II, 1153/May, 1740, and completed in Jomādā I, 115…

See KURDISTAN TRIBES.

16th-century calligrapher, poet, and craftsman, also known as Ḥāfeẓ Bābā Jān Torbatī. A version of this article is available in print Volume III, Fascicle 3, pp. 292 BĀBĀ JĀN ḴORĀSĀNĪ, also known as Ḥāfeẓ Bābā Jān Torbatī, calligrapher, poet, and craftsman the first half of the 10th/16th century. He was the son of Ḥāfeẓ ʿAbd-al-ʿAlī Torbatī, a religious figure connected with the court of Sultan Ḥosayn Bāyqarā. Bābā Jān’s brother Ḥāfeẓ Qāsem was a noted singer and Bābā Jān himself was a gifted player of the ʿūd. Sām Mīrzā praises him not only as a musician and calligrapher but als…

an archeological site in northeastern Luristan, on the southern edge of the Delfān plain, near Nūrābād, important primarily for excavations conducted by C. Goff from 1966 to 1969. A version of this article is available in print Volume III, Fascicle 3, pp. 292-293 BĀBĀ JĀN TEPE (Tappa), an archeological site in northeastern Luristan (34° north latitude, 47° 56’ east longitude), on the southern edge of the Delfān plain at approximately 10 km from Nūrābād, important primarily for excavations of first-millennium B.C. levels conducted by C. Gof…

reformer of the Sasanian military and in charge of the department of the warriors ( Diwān al-moqātela) during the reign of Ḵosrow I Anušervān in the 6th century CE. BĀBAK (Mid. Pers.: Pābag), reformer of the Sasanian military and in charge of the department of the warriors ( Diwān al-moqātela) during the reign of Ḵosrow I Anušervān in the 6th century CE. Ṭabari, who mentions him as a man of noble birth known for his magnanimous qualities and capability, records his full name as Bābak b. ʾlbyrwʾn, conjectured by Theodor Nöldeke as Bērawān (Ṭabari, I/2, pp. 963-64, tr., pp. 262-63;…

(Mid. Pers. Pāpak, Pābag), a ruler of Fārs at the beginning of the third century, father of Ardašīr, the founder of the Sasanian dynasty. A version of this article is available in print Volume III, Fascicle 3, pp. 298-299 BĀBAK (Mid. Pers. Pāpak, Pābag), a ruler of Fārs at the beginning of the third century, father of Ardašīr, the founder of the Sasanian dynasty. There are several traditions regarding the relationship of Bābak to Sāsān, who gave his name to the dynasty. One tradition, reported by Ṭabarī (I, p. 813) and other Islamic …

See ḴORRAMĪS.

leader of the Ḵorramdīnī or Ḵorramī uprising in Azerbaijan in the early 9th century (d. 838), which engaged the forces of the caliph for 20 years before it was crushed in 837. A version of this article is available in print Volume III, Fascicle 3, pp. 299-306 BĀBAK ḴORRAMĪ (d. Ṣafar, 223/January, 838), leader of the Ḵorramdīnī or Ḵorramī uprising in Azerbaijan in the early 3rd/9th century which engaged the forces of the caliph for twenty years before it was crushed in 222/837. The fullest account of Bābak’s career comes from a lost Aḵbār Bābak by Wāqed b. ʿAmr Tamīmī, which is quoted in the Fehrest…