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, the pen-name of Mīrzā Naṣr Allāh, a prominent Persian poet of the Ḳād̲j̲ār period, flor . in the 19th century. According to a reference in Gand̲j̲-i s̲h̲āygān by Mīrzā Ṭāhir Iṣfahānī S̲h̲iʿrī, it may be assumed that S̲h̲ihāb ¶ was born during the twenties of the 19th century. His birthplace was Simīrum, a small town in the Iṣfahān district. His family had a long history of supplying military judges to the government from among its members. S̲h̲ihāb, however, devoted himself from the beginning to the study of Arabic and had an incli…

, an Indo-Persian poet of the late 16th and early 17th centuries, b. at an unknown date ( ca. 987/1579?), d. 1036/1626-7. A native of Āmul in Māzandarān, he was a cousin of the famous physician and poet Ḥakīm Ruknā Kās̲h̲ī, who had gone to India before Ṭālib’s arrival in that country. Despite the fact that his works include ḳaṣīdas in praise of S̲h̲āh ʿAbbās I [ q.v.], there is no evidence that he was ever attached to the Ṣafawid court, and his earliest patrons seem to have been high officials. Via Kās̲h̲ān and Marw, he eventually migrated to seek his fortune i…

, the much-disputed pen-name of Zīb al-Nisāʾ Begum, eldest child of the Mughal emperor Awrangzīb (1068-1118/1658-1707). She was born in 1638 at Dawlatābād in the Deccan. Her mother, Dilras Bānū Begum (d. 1657), was the daughter of S̲h̲āhnawāz K̲h̲ān (d. 1659), a dignitary of S̲h̲āhd̲j̲ahān’s reign. For her early education she was assigned to Ḥāfiẓa Maryam, a learned lady who was the mother of one of Awrangzīb’s trusted nobles, ʿInāyat Allāh K̲h̲ān (d. 1139/1726-7). Under Ḥāfiẓa Maryam’s guidance, Zīb al-Nisāʾ m…

, Indo-Muslim poet, was born at Ḳum in about 934/1528. The author of the Mayk̲h̲āna states that his full name was Malik Muḥammad. He went at an early age to Kās̲h̲ān, where he stayed nearly twenty years, and then spent approximately four years in Ḳazwīn, frequenting the company of writers and scholars in both places. Already during his youth he seems to have won distinction for himself in poetical competitions with his contemporaries, and was regarded highly by such literary figures as Muḥtas̲h̲am of Kās̲h̲ān (d. 996/1587-8) and Ḍamīrī of Iṣfahān (d. ca. 1578) for his innovative tenden…

(a.) a classical verse form employed in Persian and kindred literatures, principally Turkish and Urdu. Its literal meaning is “additional”, and the term has sometimes been translated in English as “increment poem” (cf. E.G. Browne, A literary history of Persia, ii, 41). In its most common form, it is a poem based upon the pattern of the g̲h̲azal or the rubāʿi in which each hemistich is followed by a short metrical line. This short line is metrically related to the principal hemistich, and usually comprises the first and last feet to…

, modern Persian writer dealing in historical novels. The details concerning ¶ his life are at the best sketchy. By profession, he was involved in educational activities, serving as principal of the government college Nuṣrat in Hamadān and as Director of Education in Kirmāns̲h̲āhān (for his latter designation, see Armag̲h̲ān [March-April 1930], 73). He edited the periodical Ittiḥād which was published from Hamadān in 1293/1914 (Ṣadr Hās̲h̲imī, Tārīk̲h̲-i d̲j̲arāyid u mad̲j̲allāt-i Īrān , i, Iṣfahān 1343/1964-5, 46). An article from him, entitled S̲h̲āʿir kīst …

, the pen-name of the Persian poet ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, who was born ca. 945/1538 in Buk̲h̲ārā. His ancestors came from Marw, which is probably why he sometimes refers to himself as Marwī. According to Saʿīd Nafīsī, he received a religious education during his youth, but went on to choose the poetical vocation, in which he was the disciple of Mawlānā Ḥasan Kawkabī, a well-known poet of Buk̲h̲ārā ( flor . end of the 9th-beginning of the 10th/15th-16th centuries). In 972/1564-5 Mus̲h̲fiḳī went to Samarḳand, where he subsequently worked as ¶ librarian for the S̲h̲aybānid ruler Sultan Saʿīd …

(a.), [ s̲h̲iʿr ] musammaṭ or [ ḳaṣīda ] musammaṭa , also ḳaṣīda simṭiyya ), name of an originally Arabic (then also Hebrew, Persian, Turkish) stanzaic form of poetry. The name is derived from the Arabic simṭ “a thread, or string, having upon it beads or pearls; a thong, or strap, that is suspended from the horse’s saddle” (cf. Lane, s.v.); the original meaning of musammaṭ is probably ”that which is arranged in strings (rows, lines)“ (I. ʿAbbās, Taʾrīk̲h̲ , 221; cf., however, the etymological remarks of Ibn Ras̲h̲īḳ, al-ʿUmda , i, 180, and in TA, s.v. simṭ). 1. In the Arabic and Judaeo-Arabi…

, mirzā muḥammad hādī , Urdu novelist, poet, translator and writer on scientific, philosophical and religious subjects. He was born in Lucknow most probably in 1858. His ancestors had migrated from Persia during the Mug̲h̲al period. His great-grandfather, Mīrzā D̲h̲u ’l-Faḳār ʿAlī Beg, took up permanent residence in Awadh [ q.v.] during Āṣaf al-Dawla’s time (1775-97), and became ad̲j̲utant in the Nawāb’s army. Ruswā received his early education from his father, Āg̲h̲ā Muḥammad Taḳī, who taught him Arabic, Persian and mathematics. For learning E…

(a.), the name of apoem written in rhyming couplets. 1. In Arabic literature, see muzdawid̲j̲ . 2. In Persian. According to the prosodist S̲h̲ams-i-Ḳays (7th/13th ¶ century), the name refers to “a poem based on independent, internally rhyming lines ( abyāt-i mustaḳill-i muṣarraʿ ). The Persians call it mat̲h̲nawī because each line requires two rhyming letters— This kind ( nawʿ ) is used in extensive narratives and long stories which cannot easily be treated of in poems with one specific rhyming letter” ( al-Muʿd̲j̲am , ed. Tehran 1338/1959, 418f.). The fir…

, Mīrzā Muḥammad , Persian poet, court historian, epistle writer and state dignitary, born during the beginning of the 11th/17th century, and died most probably in 1110/1698-9. He was born at Ḳazwīn into a family whose members had served in the state chancery. His father, Mīrzā Ḥusayn K̲h̲ān, was a prominent citizen of Ḳazwīn. Ṭāhir Waḥīd learned the traditional subjects taught during his time, and acquired a good training in accountancy and secretarial work. He served as secretary to two successive prime ministers, Mīrzā…

(1019-54/1610-44), the pen name of Abu ’l-Barakāt, a prominent Indo-Muslim poet of S̲h̲āh D̲j̲ahān’s period (1628-58). He was born on 12 Ramaḍān 1019/28 November 1610 at Lāhawr. His father, ʿAbd al-D̲j̲alīl b. Ḥāfiẓ Abū Isḥāḳ, was an expert calligraphier attached to Emperor Akbar’s court. Munīr received his education in Lāhawr, and started composing poetry at an early age. In 1045/1635-6 he took up service with Mīrzā Ṣafī Sayf K̲h̲ān, who was a son-in-law of Āṣaf K̲h̲ān (d. 1051/1641), father of S̲h̲āh D̲j̲ahān’s wife, Mumtāz Maḥall [ q.v.]. Sayf K̲h̲ān held important administrat…

, Indian Muslim scholar who flourished during the latter part of the 11th/17th and early part of the 12th/18th century. He was the author of an epistolary work in Persian entitled Ḏj̲āmiʿ al-ḳawānīn , also known as Ins̲h̲āʾ-yi K̲h̲alīfa . According to G̲h̲ulām ʿAlī K̲h̲ān Āzād Bilgrāmī, S̲h̲āh Muḥammad’s book was much used in schools, and he spent some time in Bilgrām studying under two local scholars, S̲h̲ayk̲h̲ ʿAbd al-G̲h̲afūr and Sayyid K̲h̲ayr Allāh (d. 1115/1703). The Ḏj̲āmiʿ al-ḳawānīn is divided into four sections: the first two contain long and short letters resp…

(late 9th century-988/late 15th century-1580), the tak̲h̲alluṣ [ q.v.] or pen-name of an Indo-Muslim poet, Nad̲j̲m al-Dīn Abu ’l-Ḳāsim Muḥammad, who wrote at the courts of the Mug̲h̲al emperors Humāyūn and Akbar [ q.vv.]. According to most writers he was born in Transoxania at Miyānkāl, a district situated between Samarḳand and Buk̲h̲ārā, but stayed a long time in Kābul, whence he is also known as Kābulī. When fifteen years old he is said to have visited D̲j̲āmī (d. 898/1492 [ q.v.]) at Harāt, and spent some seven years in the poet’s company. Subsequently he went to India o…

, Persian poet, was born according to contemporary evidence, in Hamadān. His life, until he went to India, was spent chiefly in Kāshān, and therefore he is often called Kās̲h̲ānī. After receiving his education in S̲h̲īrāz during his early youth, he visited India in D̲j̲ahāngīr’s reign, but returned to Persia in 1028/1618-9. Two years later, however, he migrated permanently to India. On his arrival, he sought his fortune in various ¶ provinces, including Deccan, where he attached himself to Mīr D̲j̲umla. Following Shāhd̲j̲ahān’s accession, Kalīm entered the imperia…

(a.), a noun of place from the verb d̲j̲alasa “to sit down” and, by extension, “to sit”, ¶ “to hold a session”; starting from the original meaning of “a place where one sits down, where one stays”, thence “a seat” (J. Sadan, Le mobilier au Proche-Orient médiéval , Leiden 1976, index), the semantic field of mad̲j̲lis is of very wide extent (see the dictionaries of Lane, Dozy, Blachère, etc.). Among the principal derivative meanings are “a meeting place”, “meeting, assembly” (cf. Ḳurʾān, LXVIII, 12/11), “a reception hall (of a ca…

, Muḥammad Isḥāḳ , 17th-century Persian poet, died 1107/1695-6. He spent the early part of his life in Buk̲h̲ārā, where his father worked as a moneychanger. S̲h̲awkat also took up the same profession, but then set out ¶ for K̲h̲urāsān. In 1088/1677-8 he arrived in Harāt and entered the service of the governor Ṣafī Ḳulī K̲h̲ān S̲h̲āmlū. S̲h̲awkat was also associated for a considerable time with Mīrzā Saʿd al-Dīn, vizier of K̲h̲urāsān, who treated him with great affection and kindness, but eventually he decided to sever all connectio…

(?-995/?-1587), Indo-Muslim poet, court panegyrist of the Mug̲h̲al emperor Akbar [ q.v.] in the later 10th/16th century. Details regarding his life and career are scanty. According to Muntak̲h̲ab al-tawārīk̲h̲ , he was originally a native of Ṭūs; but most other writers refer to him as Mas̲h̲hadī, which would indicate that he might have lived in Mas̲h̲had. He was brought up in Transoxania and went to India during Akbar’s reign. It is related that he took Arslān as his pen-name because his father clalmed…

, modern Urdu poet, born 5 December 1898, died 22 February 1982. He was born in Malīḥābād, a town in present-day Uttar Pradesh (formerly United Provinces) in India. His parents gave him the name of S̲h̲abbīr Aḥmad K̲h̲ān, but subsequently he adopted his existing name of S̲h̲abbīr Ḥasan K̲h̲ān as a token of his S̲h̲īʿī sympathies. He descended from a line of poets reaching back to his great-grandfather, Nawwāb Faḳīr Muḥammad K̲h̲ān, who composed poetry under the pen-name Goyā. D̲j̲os̲h̲ received his early ed…

, Kamāl al-Dīn, Persian poet of the 10th/16th century, born in S̲h̲us̲h̲tar [ q.v.]. He is known as Astarābādī after his father’s place of origin, which was Astarābād, and also as S̲h̲ūs̲h̲tarī after his own place of birth. Some writers have called him Nad̲j̲afī since he lived for forty years at Nad̲j̲af, where he went towards 970/1562-3 during the reign of the Ṣafawid ruler Ṭahmāsp I (930-84/1524-76). During his stay in that city, he studied and taught, as one of the jurists of his time, at the holy shrine attached to ʿAlī’s tomb. The author of the Haft iḳlīm , Amīn Aḥmad Rāzī [ q.v.], describes …

, modern Persian poet, born ʿAlī Isfandiyārī on 11 November 1897 in Yūs̲h̲, a village in the Āmul township of Māzandarān, died in 1960. His pen name, Nīmā Yūs̲h̲īd̲j̲, which he later took for himself, and which has come to replace his real name in popular use, described his place affiliation, since Yūs̲h̲īd̲j̲, in the local dialect, means “a native of Yūs̲h̲”. The poet’s father, Ibrāhīm Nūrī, was a farmer and cattleman. Nīmā Yūs̲h̲īd̲j̲’s early boyhood was spent in the tribal environment which ¶ distinguished the life of his region. He received his initial education in his nat…

( Talibov ), ʿAbd al-Raḥīm , Persian writer and intellectual of the 19th century (b. Tabrīz 1250/1834, d. 1329/1911). At ca. sixteen, he left for Tiflis (Tbilisi) in Transcaucasia, where he learned the Russian language and was exposed to the writings of Russian writers as well as to Western political ideas. Subsequently, he settled in Tamir K̲h̲ān S̲h̲ūra (present-day Buynaksk), capital of Dāg̲h̲istān. In ca. 1306/1888 he joined Sayyid Muḥammad S̲h̲abistarī (afterwards editor of Īrān-i naw ) ¶ in starting in Istanbul the paper S̲h̲āhsawan , of which only on…

an Indo-Muslim dynasty which ruled, latterly with decreasing effectiveness, 932-1274/1526-1858. 1. History. This article, like the section on History in hind, iv, above, aims at being no more than a guide to the numerous articles on the history of the Mug̲h̲al dynasty in India to be found elsewhere in the Encyclopaedia , and to relate these to a chronological framework. The Mug̲h̲als were given their first foothold in Indian territory in 800/1398 when Pīr Muḥammad, governor of Kābul and a grandson of Tīmūr, attacked Uččh and Multān, and established a gov…

, the pen-name of Muḥammad Ḳāsim, Persian lexicographer of the 10th-11th/16th-17th century. His father, Ḥād̲j̲d̲j̲ī Muḥammad, is said to have been a shoemaker. Surūrī, during his early youth, practised the same profession but, later turned to ¶ scholarship. According to a tradition, he was endowed with a prolific memory and could recite thirty thousand verses by heart. He chose to reside in Iṣfahān, and there he is reported to have met the traveller Pietro de la Valle, who visited the city in 1032/1622-3. Surūrī made a journey to …

, Persian scholar, fiction writer and poet, was born on 8 June 1896 in Tehran. His family on his father’s side had a long medical tradition, which also included his father, ʿAlī Akbar Nafīsī (d. 1303/1924), who held the title of Nāẓim al-Aṭibbāʾ, and was a distinguished physician of his time. Nafīsī received his early education in Madrasayi S̲h̲araf and Madrasa-yi ʿIlmiyya, and in 1288/1909 went to Neuchâtel, in Switzerland, for further studies. His family wanted him to go into medicine. In Neuchâtel, Nafīsī j…

, 17th century Persian poet of India, commonly known as Mullā S̲h̲aydā, born in Fatḥpūr Sīkrī, near Āgra, d. in 1080/1669-70. His father was a native of Mas̲h̲had, from where he migrated to India during the reign of Emperor Akbar. It is reported that S̲h̲aydā was attached initially to a nobleman who spotted his poetic talents, and eventually introduced him to the Emperor D̲j̲ahāngīr so that he became enrolled among the aḥadī s or “gentlemen troopers”, a class of servants employed mostly for household duties. Later, he decided to seek employment…

, in modern usage, the name of an institution of learning where the Islamic sciences are taught, i.e. a college for higher studies, as opposed to an elementary school of traditional type ( kuttāb ); in mediaeval usage, essentially a college of law in which the other Islamic sciences, including literary and philosophical ones, were ancillary subjects only. I. The institution in the Arabic, Persian and Turkish lands 1. Children’s schools. The subject of Islamic education in general is treated under tarbiya. Here it should merely be noted that the earliest, informal institution…

(b. 17 February 1903; d. 9 April 1951) was perhaps the most revolutionary of modern Persian writers. The variety of his literary output is represented by works of diverse interest, but it is essentially as a writer of fiction, especially of the short story, that he enjoys his real position. His daring experiments in technique and in thought have exercised a powerful influence on the development of modern Persian fiction. Apart from his early education, Hidāyat does not seem to have pursued any regular course of studies. He held various minor jobs at different time…

, Mīrzā Muḥammad ʿAlī, Persian poet of the 11th/17th century. The precise date of his birth is not known, but it is presumed that he was born around 1010/1601-2. His father, Mīrzā ʿAbd al-Raḥīm, was a leading merchant of Tabrīz. When S̲h̲āh ʿAbbās I (r. 985-1038/1587-1629) made Iṣfahān his capital he caused many merchants from Tabrīz to settle there, in the quarter named ʿAbbāsābād. At this time Ṣāʾib’s father moved to Iṣfahān, where the poet is said to have been born. In his verses, however, Ṣāʾib often …

, modern Urdu poet (1910-75). His real name was Nad̲h̲ar (Nad̲h̲r) Muḥammad, but he is universally known by his literary name, Nūn Mīm Rās̲h̲id. He was born in the township of ʿAlīpūr Ćat́t́ha (formerly Akālgaŕh) in the Gūd̲j̲arānwāla district of the Pand̲j̲āb in present-day Pākistān. His father, Faḍl Ilāhī Ćis̲h̲tī, was in the provincial educational service from which he retired as District Inspector of Schools. Rās̲h̲id pursued his early education in his native town passing his high school examination in 1926. Therea…

, celebrated female poet of Iran, was born on 16 March 1907 in Tabrīz. Her father, Yūsuf Iʿtiṣāmī (d. 2 January 1938), was a respected author known chiefly for his translations of French and Arabic works into Persian. He was also the founder and principal writer of the literary magazine Bahār , which appeared from April 1910 till November 1911 and again from April 1921 till December 1922. Parwīn received her early instruction in Persian and Arabic literature from her father. When she was still small, her father moved the fa…

, the pen-name of the Indo-Muslim Persian poet, Muḥammad Ḥusayn, who flourished during the 10th/16th and early 11th/17th centuries, d. 1021/1612-13. He belonged originally to Nīs̲h̲āpūr, from where he went to Kās̲h̲ān during his youth. There he participated in poetical contests with the leading local poets of the day. He was among the first Persian poets who migrated from their native land ¶ during the Ṣafawid period to seek their fortune at the Mug̲h̲al court. On his arrival in India ( ca. 993/1585-6), he attached himself to ʿAbd al-Raḥīm K̲h̲ān-i K̲h̲ānān [see k̲h̲ān k̲h̲ānān …

, Muḥammad ʿAlī K̲h̲ān , prominent Persian poet of the Ḳād̲j̲ār period. He was born around 1228/1813 in Sidih, a district of Iṣfahān. His ancestors were artisans and farmers, and his father was reportedly a butcher by trade (see Dīwān , i, introd., 2). About 1243/1827 Surūs̲h̲ moved to Iṣfahān after his father’s death. There he completed his education and also discovered his poetic vocation. In 1247/1831 he left Iṣfahān to find suitable patronage, ¶ and travelled to various cities. Finally, he settled down in Tabrīz, where he gained access to the heir-apparent, Nāṣir …

, Abū Naṣr Fatḥ Allāh K̲h̲ān , 19th century Persian poet, born around 1241/1825 in Kās̲h̲ān, died 20 Rad̲j̲ab 1308/1 March 1891. He came from a noble family claiming descent from the S̲h̲aybānī tribe, from which he took his pen name. His grandfather held the governorship of Naṭanz, Kās̲h̲ān, D̲j̲aws̲h̲aḳān and Ḳum during Āg̲h̲ā Muḥammad K̲h̲ān’s reign (1193-1212/1779-97), whilst his father, Muḥammad Kāẓim K̲h̲ān, was employed under Muḥammad S̲h̲āh (r. 1250-64/1779-97) and later served as financial agent of the govern…

, Abu ’l-Ḳāsim , Persian poet and revolutionary, was born in Kirmāns̲h̲āh on 4 December 1887, the son of a petty shoemaker. As a youth he joined the struggle for constitutionalism in Persia, and in 1908 took part in the fight against the royalist troops in Ras̲h̲t, following Muḥammad ʿAlī S̲h̲āh’s attempt to reimpose autocracy. After the restoration of the Constitution in 1909 he entered the gendarmerie and was eventually promoted to the rank of major. There, charged with subv…

, also known by his surname Čalabī, 17th century Persian poet, died probably between 1078/1667 and 1083/1672. Luṭf ʿAlī Beg Ād̲h̲ar, in his tad̲h̲kira , includes the poet among those of Ād̲h̲arbāyd̲j̲ān, and refers to him as a native of Tabrīz ( Ātas̲h̲kada , i, ed. Ḥasan Sādāt Nāṣirī, Tehran 1336/1957, 132). Muḥammad Ṭāhir Naṣrābādī reports having met ʿUnwān in Mas̲h̲had, where the latter’s father, Muḥammad Ṣāliḥ Tabrīzī, a wealthy individual, had sought residence ( Tad̲h̲kira-yi Naṣrābādī , ed. Waḥīd Dastgirdī, Tehran 1361/1982, 396-7). Not much i…

, Persian poet, b. S̲h̲īrāz, according to most accounts, in 1274/1858, d. 6 Rabīʿ II 1345/14 October 1926. His father ʿAbbās was an artisan by trade. S̲h̲ūrīda’s ancestry, from what is known, reached back to the poet Ahlī S̲h̲īrāzī (d. 942/1535-6), author of the mat̲h̲nawī Siḥr-i ḥalāl “Legal magic”. When he was seven years old he was struck blind by small-pox. Some two years later his father died, after which he came under the care of his maternal uncle. In 1288/1871-2 he accompanied his uncle in…

(a.), poet. ¶ 1. In the Arab world. A. Pre-Islamic and Umayyad periods. Among those endowed with knowledge and with power in ancient Arabia stands the figure of the s̲h̲āʿir , whose role is often confused with that of the ʿarrāf ( s̲h̲aʿara and ʿarafa having the same semantic value: cf. I. Goldziher, Abhandlungen , i, 3 ff.) and of the kāhin [ q.v.]. They were credited with the same source of inspiration, the d̲j̲inns (Goldziher, Die Ǧinnen der Dichter , in ZDMG, xlv [1891], 685 ff.). However, the s̲h̲āʿir was, originally, the repository of magical rather than divinatory knowledge; …

, the pen-name of K̲h̲wād̲j̲a Ḥusayn, Indo-Persian poet of the 10th/16th century, d. 996/1587-8. Born in Mas̲h̲had, T̲h̲anāʾī, writing about himself in the introduction to his dīwān , states that, despite having talent, he initially lacked perseverance and that he took up the poetic vocation following a dream which offered him the requisite guidance. He eventually found for himself a generous patron in the person of Sulṭān Ibrāhīm Mīrzā, governor of K̲h̲urāsān, who was a poet in his own right using D…

, Mīr Muḥammad Ḥusayn ʿAṭā K̲h̲ān , pioneer in Urdu prose-writing, who lived somewhere in the middle of the 18th cetury. He was a native of Etawah (It́āwa) in present-day Uttar Pradesh, and came from a middle-class family of sayyids . His ancestors reportedly migrated from Gardīz in what is now eastern Afg̲h̲ānistan, and settled in Kaŕa Mānikpūr. His father, Mīr Muḥammad Bāḳir, moved to Dihlī at an early age and was employed as commander of 3,000 ( sih hazārī ) in Awrangzīb’s administration; he is said to have been a poet writing under the pen-name S̲h…

(p.) or S̲h̲ahrās̲h̲ūb (“upsetting the town”), a genre of short love poems on young craftsmen, often related to the bazaars of specific towns. 1. In Persian In Persian literature, the genre is usually referred to under the latter name. E.J.W. Gibb’s contention that the genre was invented by the Turkish poet Mesīḥī [ q.v.] of Edirne ( HOP, ii, 232), was challenged already by E.G. Browne who, pointing to Persian specimens mentioned by the Ṣafawid anthologist Sām Mīrzā [ q.v.], concluded that “though they were probably written later than Masíḥí’s Turkish S̲h̲ahr-angíz …

, Indo-Persian poet of the 11th/17th century. Details are lacking regarding his early life. He went to India from his native Persia during D̲j̲ahāngīr’s reign (1014-37/1605-27), and lived on to serve under his successor S̲h̲āh D̲j̲ahān (1037-68/1628-58). Apart from poetry, he was skilled in calligraphy, engraving and assaying of precious stones. D̲j̲ahāngīr gave him the title of Bēbadal K̲h̲ān, perhaps as an appreciation of his talent since bēbadal means “matchless”. In addition, he was appointed officer-in-charge of the royal jewellery, a…

(a.), an Arabic term attested at a very early stage, in the ancient inscriptions of Arabia, with the meaning of message or of mission (G. Lankester Harding, An index and concordance of pre-Islamic names and inscriptions, Toronto 1971, 277). In fact, risāla has many meanings; it has signified message, missive, letter, epistle and monograph; from the 5th/11th century onwards it could also be a synonym of maḳāma (see below, section on Risāla and maḳāma). The synonyms recorded are kitāb [ q.v.], k̲h̲iṭāb (for Ps.-Ibn al-Mudabbir in the 3rd/9th century, risāla and k̲h̲iṭāb were synonyms, Ṣafw…

, poet at the Mughal court in India. He was born and raised in Mas̲h̲had, from where he performed the pilgrimage to Mecca, and was then engaged in the grocery trade before he went to India. In 1041/1632 he joined the ranks of the Emperor S̲h̲āh D̲j̲ahān’s poets. Dāg̲h̲istānī, the author of the Riyāḍ al-s̲h̲uʿarāʾ , states that Ḳudsī preceded Kalīm as poet-laureate to S̲h̲āh D̲j̲ahān, but this is not confirmed by contemporary sources. He died in Lahore in 1056/1646-7 and, according to Ād̲h̲ar’s Ātas̲h̲-kada , his remains were removed to K̲h̲urāsān. Ḳudsī’s poems ar…

, 17th-century Indo-Persian poet, died ca. 1078/1667 (see Rieu, Catalogue of Persian manuscripts in the British Museum , ii, Add. 16,852). According to most accounts, he was a native of Mas̲h̲had, but Ṭāhir Naṣrābādī, who was his contemporary, mentions him as a Tabrīzī, stating at the same time that he heard the poet being called Mas̲h̲hadī ( Tad̲h̲kira-yi Naṣrābādī , ed. Waḥīd Dastgirdī, Tehran 1361/1982, 339). Tug̲h̲rā went” to India towards the end of D̲j̲ahāngīr’s reign or in the beginning of S̲h̲āh D̲j̲ahān’s time. His first e…

(a.), “poetical contest”, in Urdu usually pronounced mus̲h̲āʿira , has come to be applied in its wider aspect to denote an assembly where Urdu poets come together to recite their compositions. Its origin in the Indo-Muslim cultural tradition can only be guessed. According to a statement by S̲h̲iblī Nuʿmānī, one may assume that the institution of the mus̲h̲āʿara must have appeared on the Persian literary scene in India by the beginning of the 10th/16th century. S̲h̲iblī points out that from the time of the poet Fig̲h̲ānī [ q.v.], who died in 925/1519, there grew up the custom of holding mus̲h̲…

, Fatḥ ʿAlī Ḵh̲ān , Persian poet, was born in Kās̲h̲ān, probably in 1179/1765, and died in 1238/1822-3. His people belonged originally to Ād̲h̲arbayd̲j̲ān. and came from the Dunbalī stock, a tribe of Kurds settled in the region of Ḵh̲ūy. Members of his family held jobs as governors and administrators under the Zand and Ḳād̲j̲ār rulers. His father, Āḳā Muḥammad, was governor of Kās̲h̲ān under the Zands, and his eldest brother, Muḥammad ʿAlī Ḵh̲ān, was minister to the Zand ruler Luṭf ʿAlī Ḵh̲ān ( r. 1203-9/1789-94). Ṣabā also seems to have been identified with this monarch, and i…

, the most important song form in the classical repertoire of north Indian music, is regarded by some to have been invented by Amīr K̲h̲usraw (651-725/1253-1325) and attributed by others to Ḥusayn S̲h̲āh S̲h̲arḳī (862-934/1458-1528), the ruler of Ḏj̲awnpūr. who was dispossessed by Buhlūl Lodī in ca. 1476. Whatever its genesis, there is little doubt that it saw its greatest development during the Muslim period of Indian history and that its major exponents have generally been Muslims. It arose as a reaction to the traditional composition dhrupad , whose rigid …

, modern Persian poet and scholar, born on 4 December 1896 at Kirmāns̲h̲āh and died in 1951. His real name was G̲h̲ulām Riḍā, but he is popularly known as Ras̲h̲īd Yāsimī in literary and intellectual circles. He came from a cultured and well-educated family, which counted as one of its respected members the author of the novel S̲h̲ams u ṭug̲h̲rā , namely Muḥammad Bāḳir Mīrzā K̲h̲usrawī (1849-1950), who was his maternal uncle. After completing his early education in his native town, Ras̲h̲īd Yāsimī proceeded to Tehran in 1333/1914-15…

, an Indo-Persian poet of the 11th/17th century, died 1057/1647-8. He originated from the S̲h̲āmlū tribe of the Turks and was a native of Tehran, but details regarding his life are scanty. In Persia he served under Mīrzā ʿAbd Allāh Ḵh̲ān, governor of Lāhīd̲j̲ān [ q.v.] in Gīlān. During this time he married and had a son. Among the eminent personalities to whom he addressed his poems in the beginning were the Ṣafawid rulers S̲h̲āh ʿAbbās I (r. 996-1038/1588-1629) and his successor S̲h̲āh Ṣafī I (r. 1038-52/1629-42). Perhaps his failure to f…