, literally ‘rascal, tramp, vagabond’; Arabic pl. ʿayyārūn , Persian pl. ʿayyārān . From the 9th to the 12th century it was the name for certain warriors who were grouped together under the futuwwa [q.v.] in ʿIraḳ and Persia, and gradually also in Transjordania, similar to the aḥdāt̲h̲ [q.v.] in Syria and Mesopotamia, and to the rindān (v. ak̲h̲ī ) in Anatolia. Occasionally, the term is used to mean the same as jityān (v. fatā ). Thus one of their leaders might sometimes be referred to as sar-ʿayyārān , and sometimes as raʾīs al-fityān . On occasions they appeared as fighters for the fa…