Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition

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K̲h̲wārazm-S̲h̲āhs
(3,303 words)

, the ancient title of the rulers of K̲h̲wārazm [q.v.], used regularly in the early Islamic period (cf. Ṭabarī, ii, 1238, events of 93/712) until the Mongol invasions, and sporadically thereafter; hence as with the designations Afs̲h̲īn and Ik̲h̲s̲h̲īd [q.vv.], this is an example of the survival of what was probably an ancient Central Asian Iranian title well into Islamic times.

The K̲h̲wārazmian scholar Bīrūnī gives the names and genealogical sequence of the first line of K̲h̲wārazm-S̲h̲āhs, the house of Afrīg̲h̲, which began, so he says, in 305 A.D. and continued unti…

Cite this page
Bosworth, C.E., “K̲h̲wārazm-S̲h̲āhs”, in: Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition, Edited by: P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel, W.P. Heinrichs. Consulted online on 19 March 2024 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1573-3912_islam_SIM_4206>
First published online: 2012
First print edition: ISBN: 9789004161214, 1960-2007



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