Encyclopaedia Islamica
Get access
Subject: Middle East And Islamic Studies
Edited by: Farhad Daftary and Wilferd Madelung
Encyclopaedia Islamica Online is based on the abridged and edited translation of the Persian Dāʾirat al-Maʿārif-i Buzurg-i Islāmī, one of the most comprehensive sources on Islam and the Muslim world. A unique feature of the Encyclopaedia Islamica Online lies in the attention given to Shiʿi Islam and its rich and diverse heritage. In addition to providing entries on important themes, subjects and personages in Islam generally, Encyclopaedia Islamica Online offers the Western reader an opportunity to appreciate the various dimensions of Shiʿi Islam, the Persian contribution to Islamic civilization, and the spiritual dimensions of the Islamic tradition.
Subscriptions: see Brill.com
| Help us improve our service |
Encyclopaedia Islamica Online is based on the abridged and edited translation of the Persian Dāʾirat al-Maʿārif-i Buzurg-i Islāmī, one of the most comprehensive sources on Islam and the Muslim world. A unique feature of the Encyclopaedia Islamica Online lies in the attention given to Shiʿi Islam and its rich and diverse heritage. In addition to providing entries on important themes, subjects and personages in Islam generally, Encyclopaedia Islamica Online offers the Western reader an opportunity to appreciate the various dimensions of Shiʿi Islam, the Persian contribution to Islamic civilization, and the spiritual dimensions of the Islamic tradition.
Subscriptions: see Brill.com
Badīʿ in Persian Language and Literature
(2,315 words)
Badīʿ in Persian Language and Literature. Al-Rādūyānī’s
Tarjumān al-balāgha, composed in the 5th/11th century, is the earliest Persian work on
ʿilm
al-badīʿ (‘figures of speech’, the art of arranging words of a discourse with elegance and precision, and expressing the ideas in an aesthetically pleasing manner),
balāgha (eloquence) and
ʿilm al-bayān (a branch of rhetoric, dealing with metaphorical language). The book is based on the Arabic model of rhetoric and eloquence. The author himself admits to this borrowing (p. 3) as is evident in the ti…
Source:
Encyclopaedia Islamica
Date:
2021-06-17
Badīʿ al-Zamān Hamadānī
(2,541 words)
Badīʿ al-Zamān Hamadānī (also Hamadhānī), Abū al-Faḍl Aḥmad b. Ḥusayn b. Yaḥyā (358–398/969–1007), was a Persian writer and literary figure who wrote in Arabic and was the pioneer of the literary genre of the
maqāma (a form of extemporising which allowed the display of prowess in poetry and prose).Information about his life is drawn from accounts and reports produced by his contemporary ʿAbd al-Malik al-Thaʿālabī (4/256–301). Later writers reproduced in essence what al-Thaʿālabī wrote: even Yāqūt (2/161–167), who took his brief biography from the
Tārīkh-i Hamadān by Abū Shujāʿ S…
Source:
Encyclopaedia Islamica
Date:
2021-06-17
Badīʿ al-Zamān Tabrīzī
(577 words)
Badīʿ al-Zamān Tabrīzī (alive in 1038/1629), son of ʿAlī Riḍā ʿAbbāsī (q.v.), was a calligrapher specialising in the
nastaʿlīq style. He was born in Tabrīz, and given that historical sources do not refer to his master, the assumption has been that he was trained under the tutelage of his father, one of the most accomplished calligraphers of the Ṣafawid era (see Bayānī,
Aḥwāl, 1/97–99, 2/456, 461). There is scant information about his life: only Mīrzā Sanglākh, in his habitually embellished accounts, has given a summary of his life and works in the volume
Tadhkirat al-khaṭṭātīn, calling h…
Source:
Encyclopaedia Islamica
Date:
2021-06-17
Badr
(2,506 words)
Badr, is a region in the Ḥijāz and the site of the first important battle between the Muslims and the Meccans in Ramaḍān 2/March 624. Situated between Medina and Mecca, Badr’s importance stemmed from its fresh-water wells. There are a number of reports regarding the origin of its name, one stating that ‘Badr’ was the name of either the owner or the digger of a well in this area (Abū ʿUbayd, 1/231; Ibn Qutayba, 152; al-Yamānī, 33; Yāqūt, 1/524). Owing to the availability of water and hence its lush vegetation, Badr was popular among the Arabs. It was also the site of an annual fair known as the
mawsim …
Source:
Encyclopaedia Islamica
Badr
(2,490 words)
Badr, is a region in the Ḥijāz and the site of the first important battle between the Muslims and the Meccans in Ramaḍān 2/March 624.Situated between Medina and Mecca, Badr’s importance stemmed from its fresh-water wells. There are a number of reports regarding the origin of its name, one stating that ‘Badr’ was the name of either the owner or the digger of a well in this area (Abū ʿUbayd, 1/231; Ibn Qutayba, 152; al-Yamānī, 33; Yāqūt, 1/524). Owing to the availability of water and hence its lush vegetation, Badr was popular among the Arabs. It was also the site of an annual fair known as the
mawsim …
Source:
Encyclopaedia Islamica
Date:
2021-06-17
Badr al-Jamālī
(2,102 words)
Abū al-Najm Amīr al-Juyūsh (d. 487/1094), was the renowned commander of the armies (
amīr al-juyūsh) and vizier at the time of the Fāṭimid Imam-Caliph al-Mustanṣir. He was originally an Armenian serving the Syrian emir of Ṭarābulus, Jamāl al-Dawla Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī b. ʿAmmār, who brought him up from childhood and became his patron, whence his name al-Jamālī.Because of his military and political capabilities and skills, he rapidly rose through the ranks in emir Jamāl al-Dawla’s administration (Ibn Ṣayrafī, 55;
al-Sijilliyyāt, 63; al-Maqrīzī,
al-Muqaffā, 2/394), and so, in Rabīʿ…
Source:
Encyclopaedia Islamica
Date:
2018-09-24
Badr al-Jamālī
(2,100 words)
Abū al-Najm Amīr al-Juyūsh (d. 487/1094), was the renowned commander of the armies (
amīr al-juyūsh) and vizier at the time of the Fāṭimid Imam-Caliph al-Mustanṣir. He was originally an Armenian serving the Syrian emir of Ṭarābulus, Jamāl al-Dawla Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī b. ʿAmmār, who brought him up from childhood and became his patron, whence his name al-Jamālī.Because of his military and political capabilities and skills, he rapidly rose through the ranks in emir Jamāl al-Dawla’s administration (Ibn Ṣayrafī, 55;
al-Sijilliyyāt, 63; al-Maqrīzī,
al-Muqaffā, 2/394), and so, in Rabīʿ…
Source:
Encyclopaedia Islamica
Date:
2021-06-17
Baghdad
(39,562 words)
Baghdad, both a historic province and a city in Iraq, and today the country’s capital. 1. Geography In its heyday, Baghdad was one of the richest centres of Muslim civilisation. The city was ravaged numerous times throughout history due to both internal conflict and invasion. During the last several decades the population of Baghdad has dramatically increased; totalling 350,000 in 1932, it reached 5,785,577 in 2007 (al-Samāwī, 83). In 2010, the total population of Baghdad province was estimated to be 7,716,960 (…
Source:
Encyclopaedia Islamica
Date:
2021-06-17
al-Baghdādī, ʿAbd al-Qādir
(1,283 words)
al-Baghdādī, ʿAbd al-Qādir b. ʿUmar b. Bāyazīd b. Aḥmad (1030–1093/1621–1682), a man of letters (
adīb) and lexicologist. He was born in Baghdad and began his studies in his native city. In addition to his native Arabic, he also learnt Persian and Turkish, and when he left Baghdad he was proficient in all three languages (see al-Muḥibbī, 2/451–452; 454; al-Baghdādī, introd., 4). ʿAbd al-Qādir’s knowledge of Persian far exceeded the requirements of the
madrasa curriculum, as he is known to have compiled a dictionary of Firdawsī’s
Shāhnāmah and was quite familiar with works like the
Akhbār-…
Source:
Encyclopaedia Islamica
Date:
2021-06-17
Bahāʾ al-Dīn Abū Muḥammad Zakariyyāʾ Multānī
(2,279 words)
Bahāʾ al-Dīn Abū Muḥammad Zakariyyāʾ Multānī, was a 6th–7th/12th–13th century Sufi master and propagator of the Suhrawardiyya Order in the Indian subcontinent. He was known as Bahāʾ al-Ḥaqq (‘Splendour of the Real’), although he had other titles including Ghawth al-ʿĀlamīn (‘Succour of the Worlds’), Bāz-i Safīd (‘White Falcon’) and Badr al-Mashāyikh (‘Full Moon of the Masters’). He was of Hāshimid descent, with his lineage reaching back to Asad b. Hāshim ʿAbd Manāf, ancestor of the Prophet. Bahāʾ al-Dīn’s ancestors migrated from Khʷārazm to Kūt Karūr (Kot Karor) in the vicin…
Source:
Encyclopaedia Islamica
Date:
2021-06-17
Bahāʾ al-Dīn Mattū
(487 words)
Bahāʾ al-Dīn Mattū (1180–1248/1766–1832), a poet and Sufi from a family of scholars from Kashmīr. His importance primarily lies in his biographies of Sufis and explanations of Sufi doctrine.Bahāʾ al-Dīn became attracted to Sufism in his youth. He studied religious sciences under Mullā Maḥmūd Balkhī and then chose teaching as his profession (Rāshidī, 1/136).WorksHis extant poetical works include the following five
mathnawīs (rhyming couplets), which were written in the style of Niẓāmī’s
Khamsa:1.
Rīshī-
nāmah or
Rishī-nāmah comprising 4,000 verses on the lives of the Rīs…
Source:
Encyclopaedia Islamica
Date:
2021-06-17
Bahāʾ al-Dīn Walad (Bahāʾ Walad or Sulṭān al-ʿUlamāʾ)
(1,226 words)
Bahāʾ al-Dīn Walad (Bahāʾ Walad or Sulṭān al-ʿUlamāʾ), Muḥammad b. Ḥusayn Khaṭībī Bakrī (543–628/1148–1231), a prominent Sufi master and preacher (
wāʿiẓ), and ¶ the father of Mawlānā Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Balkhī Rūmī. Bahāʾ Walad’s lineage is said to have gone back to the first caliph, Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq, while on his mother’s side he was the grandson of ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn Muḥammad Khʷārazm-Shāh (Aflākī, 1/7–9; see also Jāmī, 459), but this lineage is not attested to in reliable historical accounts (see Furūzānfar, 7–8). In the
Maʿārif, a record of his sermons and sayings, his honori…
Source:
Encyclopaedia Islamica
Bahāʾ al-Dīn Walad (Bahāʾ Walad or Sulṭān al-ʿUlamāʾ)
(1,215 words)
Bahāʾ al-Dīn Walad (Bahāʾ Walad or Sulṭān al-ʿUlamāʾ), Muḥammad b. Ḥusayn Khaṭībī Bakrī (543–628/1148–1231), a prominent Sufi master and preacher (
wāʿiẓ), and the father of Mawlānā Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Balkhī Rūmī.Bahāʾ Walad’s lineage is said to have gone back to the first caliph, Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq, while on his mother’s side he was the grandson of ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn Muḥammad Khʷārazm-Shāh (Aflākī, 1/7–9; see also Jāmī, 459), but this lineage is not attested to in reliable historical accounts (see Furūzānfar, 7–8). In the
Maʿārif, a record of his sermons and sayings, his honorif…
Source:
Encyclopaedia Islamica
Date:
2021-06-17
Bahāʾ al-Dīn Walad (Sulṭān Walad)
(3,573 words)
Bahāʾ al-Dīn Walad (Sulṭān Walad), whose full name was Muḥammad b. Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad (623–712/1226–1312), was the elder son and second successor of Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī or Balkhī. According to some sources his first name was Aḥmad; but since Aḥmad Aflākī (see 2/785) states that Jalāl al-Dīn named him after his own father, Bahāʾ al-Dīn Walad (q.v.), it seems more probable that his name was Muḥammad.Sulṭān Walad was born at Lāranda (modern Karaman), a town some 100 km. south of Konya, which was then one of the seats of government of the Saljūqs of Rūm (Asia Mi…
Source:
Encyclopaedia Islamica
Date:
2021-06-17
Bahār-i ʿAjam
(1,287 words)
Bahār-i ʿAjam is a comprehensive lexicon of the Persian words and idioms used by Persian poets, which was compiled by Lāla Tīk Chand (d. 1180/1766), an Indian poet and literary figure, who had the pen name (
takhalluṣ) Bahār and was popularly known as Munshi Ray Lala Tek Chand Bahār (Rypka, 730). The author worked on the lexicon for twenty years, and given that the chronogram ‘
yādigār-i faqīr-i ḥaqīr Bahār’ at the colophon equates to a completion date of 1152/1739, it is likely that it was started in 1132/1720 (see Bahār, ed. 1916, 1/2, 2/512; ed. 2001, introd., …
Source:
Encyclopaedia Islamica
Bahār-i ʿAjam
(1,276 words)
Bahār-i ʿAjam is a comprehensive lexicon of the Persian words and idioms used by Persian poets, which was compiled by Lāla Tīk Chand (d. 1180/1766), an Indian poet and literary figure, who had the pen name (
takhalluṣ) Bahār and was popularly known as Munshi Ray Lala Tek Chand Bahār (Rypka, 730). The author worked on the lexicon for twenty years, and given that the chronogram ‘
yādigār-i faqīr-i ḥaqīr Bahār’ at the colophon equates to a completion date of 1152/1739, it is likely that it was started in 1132/1720 (see Bahār, ed. 1916, 1/2, 2/512; ed. 2001, introd., …
Source:
Encyclopaedia Islamica
Date:
2021-06-17
Bahār, Muḥammad Taqī
(5,792 words)
Bahār, Muḥammad Taqī, Malik al-Shuʿarāʾ (10 December 1886–22 April 1951), poet, journalist, parliamentary representative, minister of culture, professor and member of the Persian Language Academy of Iran (
Farhangistān-i Īrān). His father was Muḥammad Kāẓim Ṣabūrī, the poet-laureate at the shrine in Mashhad, and his mother was Ḥājiyya Sakīna Khānum, a pious woman of Georgian stock whose forebears had been brought as captives to Iran during the rule of ʿAbbās Mīrzā Qājār in the course of the Russo-Persian wars and eventually…
Source:
Encyclopaedia Islamica
Date:
2021-06-17
Bahmanyār b. al-Marzubān
(2,403 words)
Bahmanyār b. al-Marzubān, Abū al-Ḥasan (or Abū al-Ḥusayn) (d. 458/1066), was an Iranian philosopher and one of the most prominent students of Ibn Sīnā. There has been much confusion over his names: one source, a 9th/15th-century manuscript of Ibn Sīnā’s
Mubāḥathāt, gives his
kunya as Abū al-Ḥusayn, describing him as
al-kātib (the chancery secretary), while Ibn Abī Uṣaybiʿa (p. 458) calls him Abū al-Ḥasan. In addition, he was erroneously given the title Kiyā Rāʾīs by Niẓāmī ʿArūḍī (p. 82), which has been followed by many modern biographers. This…
Source:
Encyclopaedia Islamica
Date:
2021-06-17
Bahrām b. Mardānshāh
(896 words)
Bahrām b. Mardānshāh, was a translator of the
Khudāy-nāmah (
Khwadāy-nāmag), one of the most important historical works of the Sāsānid period, from Pahlawī into Arabic. Nothing is known about his life or ¶ the period he came from, apart from the fact that he was a Zoroastrian priest (
mubad) from the town of Shāpūr in Fārs. The earliest source to mention him and his works is the
Taʾrīkh sinī mulūk al-arḍ wa al-anbiyāʾ by Ḥamza al-Iṣfahānī (d. 360/971) (pp. 9–10), which suggests that he may have lived in the 2nd/8th or 3rd/9th century. While compiling his own history of Ancient Persia, Ḥa…
Source:
Encyclopaedia Islamica
Bahrām b. Mardānshāh
(884 words)
Bahrām b. Mardānshāh, was a translator of the
Khudāy-nāmah (
Khwadāy-nāmag), one of the most important historical works of the Sāsānid period, from Pahlawī into Arabic. Nothing is known about his life or the period he came from, apart from the fact that he was a Zoroastrian priest (
mubad) from the town of Shāpūr in Fārs. The earliest source to mention him and his works is the
Taʾrīkh sinī mulūk al-arḍ wa al-anbiyāʾ by Ḥamza al-Iṣfahānī (d. 360/971) (pp. 9–10), which suggests that he may have lived in the 2nd/8th or 3rd/9th century.While compiling his own history of Ancient Persia, Ḥam…
Source:
Encyclopaedia Islamica
Date:
2021-06-17