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( Abu’ l-Muẓaffar ), born 25 Rad̲j̲ab 892/17 July 1487, died 19 Rad̲j̲ab 930/23 May 1524, shah of Persia (907/1501-930/1524) and founder of the Ṣafawid dynasty [see ṣafawids ]. 1. Biographical and historical: Under Ismāʿīl, Iran became a national state for the first time since the Arab conquest in the 1st/7th century. An important factor in this process was the proclamation by Ismāʿīl of the It̲h̲nā ʿAs̲h̲arī (D̲j̲aʿfarī) form of S̲h̲īʿism as the official religion of the Ṣafawid state. By this action, Ismāʿīl decisively differ…

, the tak̲h̲alluṣ of Mīrzā Ḏj̲alāl al-Dīn Muḥammad b. Mīrzā Muʾmin, Persian poet and pupil of Faṣīḥī Harawī. Born at Iṣfahān: probable date of death 1049/1639-40, though some sources give later dates. Unlike many of his contemporaries, he did not migrate to the Mug̲h̲al court, but became a boon companion and close relative (according to one account the son-in-law) of S̲h̲āh ʿAbbās I. He composed most of his poetry under the influence of alcohol, from an excess of which he died. His dīwān , comprising ḳaṣīdas , mat̲h̲nawīs , tard̲j̲ʿ-bands and g̲h̲azals , was lithographed at Lucknow in 1880. (…

i.—Geography The geological background: The alignments of Iran’s principal topographie features, represented by the Kūhhā-yi Alburz and the Zagros Chain, are west to east and north-west to south-east, respectively. In broad context, the Alburz is a continuation of the European Alpine structures, while the Zagros chain has been linked through Cyprus with the Dinaric Alps (Fisher, 1956). The structure of the mountain rim of the country has been influenced strongly by tectonic movements which have n…

, Ṣafawid administrative term = “usher”. The is̲h̲īk-āḳāsis were minor court officiais who operated in two different branches of the administrative System, namely, the dīwān [ q.v.] and the ḥaram [ q.v.]. The officers in charge of the two sections were known as is̲h̲ik-āḳāsī-bās̲h̲ī -yi dīwān-i aʿlā , and īs̲h̲īk-āḳāsī-bās̲h̲ī -yi ḥaram respectively. Both officers had categories of officiais other than īs̲h̲īk-āḳāsīs under their command. There was a great difference between the status and power of these two officers: īs̲h̲īk-āḳāsī-bās̲h̲ī -yi dīwān-i aʿlā. This officer, calle…

(t. “Red-head”). The word is used in both a general and a specific sense. In general, it is used loosely to denote a wide variety of extremist S̲h̲īʿī sects [see g̲h̲ulāt ], which flourished in ¶ Anatolia and Kurdistān from the late 7th/13th century onwards, including such groups as the Alevis ( ʿAlawīs ; see A. S. Tritton, Islam: belief and practices, London 1951, 83). The ʿAlawīs were closely connected with the Nuṣayrīs [ q.v.] of northern Syria and Cicilia, and the tahtacis ( tak̲h̲tad̲j̲is [ q.v.]), in order to protect themselves from persecution by the Ottoman government as …

, literally: “trusty support of the state”, a title of Persian wazīrs during the Ṣafawid period and subsequently. The title iʿtimād al-dawla does not occur during the reign of Ismaʿīl I (907-30/1501-24), and first appears towards the end of the reign of Ṭahmāsp I, ca. 976/1568-9 (see Tārīk̲h̲-i Īlčī-yi Niẓāms̲h̲āh , B. M. Ms. Add. 23,513, fol. 480a). The introduction of this title reflected the growing importance of the bureaucracy in an increasingly centralized administration, and marked a significant increase in the power of the wazīr at the expense of the wakīl [ q.v.]. Under the Ḳād…

, celebrated Persian sword-maker ( s̲h̲ams̲h̲īrsāz ) of the time of S̲h̲āh ʿAbbās I. It is said that the Ottoman Sultan presented a helmet to S̲h̲āh ʿAbbās, and offered a sum of money to anyone who could cleave the helmet in two with a sword. Asad made a sword with which he achieved this feat, and, as a reward, S̲h̲āh ʿAbbās remitted the tax of the sword-makers, who continued to obtain exemption until Ḳād̲j̲ār times (see A. K. S. Lambton, Islamic Society in Persia , London 1954, 25). For a description of Asad Allāh’s work, see Survey of Persian Art , iii, 2575. (R.M. Savory)

, town in the Persian province of Māzandarān, and chief town of a district ( bulūk ) of the same name, situated 36° 41ʹ 55ʺ N, 53° 32ʹ 30ʺ E, five miles from the shore of the Caspian Sea, 35 miles E. of Sārī and 43 miles W. of Astarābād on the road between these two towns. The town lies at the foot of wooded spurs of the lofty Alburz range, and commands a fine view northwards over the bay of Astarābād. Although the approaches to As̲h̲raf are fertile and produce excellent cotton and wheat, the plain of As̲h̲raf itself tends to be marshy. The cypress, the wild vine, the citron and the orange grow in profusion. F…

, the name of a place in the Caucasus where, on 12 October 1813, a peace treaty was signed between Russia and Persia. In 1800 the Russians had annexed Georgia, and the Persians, in an effort to check their further advance southward, had suffered two defeats in 1812, at Aslandūz and Lankurān, and had been forced to sue for peace. The terms of the Treaty of Gulistān, which was negotiated through the mediation of the British ambassador Sir Gore Ouseley, were disastrous for Persia. The regions of Georgia, Ḳarābāg̲h̲, S̲h̲akkī, S̲h̲īrwān, Darband, Bākū, Dāg̲h…

, son of Riḍā K̲h̲ān [ q.v.] and Tād̲j̲ al-Mulūk, daughter of Tīmūr K̲h̲ān mīr-pand̲j̲ (“brigadier”); born 26 October 1919 (his twin sister, As̲h̲raf, was born later the same day), died Cairo 27 July 1980, second and last s̲h̲āh of the Pahlawī [ q.v.] ¶ dynasty of Iran. At the coronation of his father on 25 April 1926, Muḥammad Riḍā was formally invested as Crown Prince. After primary education at a school established by his father for the sons of government officials and military officers, he was sent in 1931 to a private school in Lausa…

(or alḳās , alḳāsp ), second son of S̲h̲āh Ismaʿīl I of the Ṣafawī dynasty, and younger brother of S̲h̲āh Ṭahmāsp I. Born Tabrīz 921/1515-6, he fought a successful action at Astarābād against the Uzbegs in 939/1532-3. In 945/1538-9 he subdued S̲h̲irwān, and was made governor of that province by Ṭahmāsp. He rebelled soon afterwards, but was granted a conditional pardon through the intercession of his mother Ḵh̲ān Begī Ḵh̲ānum. At the instance of Ṭahmāsp, he fought an inconclusive campaign against the Circassians, but again rebelled, minting his own coinage and including his name in the k̲h̲…

, daughter of the amīr al-umarā Amīr Čūbān, niece of the Īlk̲h̲ānid ruler of Persia Abū Saʿīd ( regn . 717-736/1317-1335) (her mother was Abū Saʿīd’s sister), and wife of Amīr Ḥasan the D̲j̲alāʾirid, commonly known as S̲h̲ayk̲h̲ Ḥasan Buzurg, whom she married in 723/1323. In 1325 A.D. Abū Saʿīd, quoting as precedent the yāsā of Čingiz Ḵh̲ān, attempted to force S̲h̲ayk̲h̲ Ḥasan to divorce Bag̲h̲dād Ḵh̲ātūn in order that he might marry her himself, but was frustrated by Amīr Čūbān. In October or November 1327 A.D. Amīr Čūbān was…

K̲h̲ūy , Iranian town (population in 1951: 49,000), situated in long. 45° 02′ E., lat. 38° 32′ N., in the s̲h̲ahristān of the same name in the ustān of West Ād̲h̲arbāyd̲j̲ān; the Kurdish district of Quṭūr is included in the s̲h̲ahristān of K̲h̲ōī. The town lies at an elevation of 1040 m./3,444 ft., in a plain known locally as K̲h̲ōī čukūri̊ (“the K̲h̲ōī depression”), because all the surrounding areas are at a higher elevation. The mountains surrounding the K̲h̲ōī plain protect the city from the cold winter winds (the Harāwīl range a…

(from the Mongolian ḳorči , “an archer”, from ḳor , “quiver”; Tad̲h̲kirat al-mulūk , translated and explained by V. Minorsky, London 1943, 32, ¶ n. 2), a military term with a variety of different meanings: “he who bears arms, the sword, chief huntsman” (Pavet de Courteille, Dict . turc , or., 425; “armourer, sword-cutler, troop of cavalry, captain of the watch; leader of a patrol, commandant of a fort, gendarmerie in charge of a city’s security” (Sulaymān Buk̲h̲ārī, Lug̲h̲at-i Čag̲h̲atāy ve Türkī ʿOt̲h̲mānī , Istanbul 1298/1880-1, 233), “sentry, sentinel, guard, inspector” (Vambery, Ča…

, S̲h̲ayk̲h̲ Abu ’l-Fatḥ Isḥāḳ, son of Amīn al-Dīn D̲j̲ibrāʾīl and Dawlatī, born 650/1252-3, died 12 Muḥarram 735/12 September 1334 at Ardabīl [ q.v.], eponymous founder of the Ṣafawid Order of Ṣūfīs and hence of the Ṣafawid dynasty, rulers of Persia 907-1148/1501-1736 [see ṣafawids ]. Traditional hagiographical accounts depict Ṣafī al-Dīn as being destined for future greatness from infancy. As a boy, he spent his time in religious exercises, experienced visions involving angelic beings, and was visited by the abdāl and awtād [ q.vv.]. As he grew up, he could find no murs̲h̲id …

, a complimentary title of the Persian divine and historian Amīr d̲j̲amāl [al-dīn] ʿaṭāʾ allāh b. faḍl allāh al-ḥusaynī al-das̲h̲takī al-s̲h̲īrāzī , who flourished at Harāt during the reign of Sulṭān Ḥusayn the Tīmūrid (875-911/1470-1505); the probable date of his death is 926/1520. His known works are: (1) Rawḍat al-aḥbāb fī siyar al-Nabī wa ’l-āl wa ’l-aṣḥāb , a history of Muḥammad, his family and companions, written at the request of Mīr ʿAlī S̲h̲īr and completed in 900/1494-5 (Lucknow ed. 1297/1880-2, Turkish tr. Constantinople 1268/1852); (2) Tuḥfat al-aḥibbāʾ fī manāḳib Āl …

, S̲h̲ayk̲h̲ , the 5th Ṣafawid s̲h̲ayk̲h̲ in line of descent from S̲h̲ayk̲h̲ Ṣafī al-Dīn Isḥāḳ, the founder of the Ṣafawid ṭarīḳa . The son of D̲j̲unayd [ q.v.] and K̲h̲adīd̲j̲a Begum, the sister of the Aḳ Ḳoyunlu ruler Uzun Ḥasan, Ḥaydar succeeded his father as head of the Ṣafawid ṭarīḳa at Ardabīl in 864/1460. Ḥaydar, by his marriage to Ḥalīma Begī Āg̲h̲ā (or Marta; better known as ʿAlams̲h̲āh Begum), the daughter of Uzun Ḥasan and Despina K̲h̲ātūn, the latter the daughter of Calo Johannes, the Emperor of Trebizond, maintained the close alliance w…

[English edition] 1. جغرافيا 1.1 الخصائص الجيولوجيّة تعتبر سلسلتا جبال البورز وجبال زاغروس اللتّان تمتدّان تباعا من الغرب إلى الشّرق ومن الشّمال الغربيّ إلى الجنوب الشّرقيّ أهمّ الوحدات الطّبوغرافيّة بإيران. فعلى نطاق واسع، تمثّل جبال البورز امتدادا للبنى الآلبيّة الأوروبيّة، بينما تعتبر جبال زاغروس تواصلا للآلب الديناريّة عبر قبرص (فيشير، 1956). وقد تأثّرت البنية الجبليّة لحاشية البلاد بشدّة الحركات البنائيّة التّي لم تسبّب فقط التواءً كبيرًا للطبقات أدّى إلى ظهور جبال مرتفعة، بل أدّت أيضاً إلى انقلاب…