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an important fortress of the Nezāri Ismaʿilis in the mountainous district of Rudbār, within the region of medieval Islamic Daylam in northwestern Iran. LANBASAR (the form in Rašid-al-Din and Ḥamd-Allāh Mostawfi; popular pronunciation, and the form used by Jovayni, Lam(m)asar), an important fortress of the Nezāri Ismaʿilis in the valley of the Šāhrud river, a tributary of the Safidrud, in the mountainous district of Rudbār, within the region of medieval Islamic Daylam in northwestern Iran. Its precise location is in th…

a dynasty of Deylamite origin. Its original center of power was at Šamirān in the district of Ṭārom on the middle course of the Safidrud river in the region of Deylam, but it subsequently extended its authority over a large part of northwestern Iran. MOSAFERIDS (also Sallarids or Kangarids; this last form is more probable than that of Langarids; see Kasravi, pp. 36-37), a dynasty of Deylamite origin that ruled in northwestern Iran in the 4th-5th/10th-11th centuries. Its original center of power was at Šamirān in the district of Ṭārom on t…

(or Ebn Pūlād), military adventurer, probably of Daylamī origin, active in northern Persia during the Buyid period (early 11th century) and typical of the soldiers of fortune characterizing the “Daylamī intermezzo” of medieval Persian history. A version of this article is available in print Volume VIII, Fascicle 1, pp. 26-27 EBN FŪLĀD (or Ebn Pūlād), military adventurer, probably of Daylamī origin, active in northern Persia during the Buyid period (early 5th/11th century) and typical of the soldiers of fortune characterizing the “Daylamī interme…

ruler of the Samanid dynasty in Transoxania and Khorasan, 343-350/954-61. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 2, pp. 128 ʿABD-AL- MALEK B. NŪḤ B. NAṢR, ABU’L-FAVĀRES, ruler of the Samanid dynasty in Transoxania and Khorasan, 343-350/954-61. The historian of Bokhara, Naršaḵī, and the Ghaznavid historian Gardīzī accord him the designation of al-Amīr al-Rašīd, but it appears from his coins that he was called al-Malek al-Movaffaq during his lifetime, and it seems that he was referred to after his death as al-Malek al-Moʾayyad. The reign of ʿAbd-al-Malek’s…

ABŪ NAṢR ŠARAF-AL-DĪN, high official who served the Great Saljuq sultans and the ʿAbbasid caliph during the first half of the 6th/12th century. A version of this article is available in print Volume II, Fascicle 2, pp. 139 ANŪŠERVĀN B. ḴĀLED B. MOḤAMMAD KĀŠĀNĪ, ABŪ NAṢR ŠARAF-AL-DĪN, high official who served the Great Saljuq sultans and the ʿAbbasid caliph during the first half of the 6th/12th century. He was born at Ray in 459/1066-67; the date of his death at Baghdad is variously given as 532/1137-38 and 533/1138-39. After secretarial training, he rose to prominence in the servic…

b. Ebrāhīm KORDĪ, ABŪ SĀLEM, Kurdish commander who ruled sporadically in Azerbaijan between 938 and 955 after the period of Sajid domination there. A version of this article is available in print Volume VII, Fascicle 2, pp. 172-173 DAYSAM b. Ebrāhīm KORDĪ, ABŪ SĀLEM, Kurdish commander who ruled sporadically in Azerbaijan between 326/938 and 344/955 after the period of Sajid domination there. Daysam is described as the son of a Kurdish mother and an Arab father who had been a partisan of the Kharijite Hārūn Wāzeqī at Mosul during the caliphate of al-Moʿtaże…

or Böritigin, name of a Turkish commander in Ḡazna and of the ruler of the western branch of the Qarakhanid dynasty of Transoxania. A version of this article is available in print Volume IV, Fascicle 4, pp. 372 BÖRI, or Böritigin (Turkish böri “wolf” plus tigin “prince”; cf. G. Clauson, Etymological Dictionary of Pre-Thirteenth Century Turkish, Oxford, 1972, pp. 356, 483). 1. The name of a Turkish commander in Ḡazna (the name is written in Arabic sources Bīrī, Bīrītekīn, in the Persian ones Pīrī, Pīrītegīn). After the death in battle at Gardīz in 364/974-…

a town in the medieval Islamic region of Guzgān in northern Afghanistan. A version of this article is available in print Volume XI, Fascicle 2, pp. 166-167 GORZEVĀN (thus in the Ḥodud al-ʿālam; Yaʿqubi, Qorzomān; Ebn Ḥawqal and Yāqut, Jorzovān; Moqaddasi, Jorzovān and Korzovān), a town in the medieval Islamic region of Guzgān (q.v.) in northern Afghanistan. It lay in the district of the headwaters of the Fāryāb and Andḵuy rivers, still in modern Afghanistan called Darzāb wa Gorzevān ( Ḥodud al-ʿālam, tr, Minorsky, comm. p. 335). It was the summer residence ( qaṣaba) of the local princes…

the name given in medieval Arabic literature to the non-Arabs of the Islamic empire, but applied especially to the Persians. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 7, pp. 700-701 ʿAJAM, the name given in medieval Arabic literature to the non-Arabs of the Islamic empire, but applied especially to the Persians. In origin, the verb ʿaǰama simply means “to speak indistinctly, to mumble;” hence ʿAǰam or ʿOǰm are “the indistinct speakers,” sc. the non-Arabs. The Arabic lexica state at the outset that ʿaǰama is the antonym of ʿaraba “to speak clearly,” so that ʿoǰma beco…

(“The book of the long historical narratives”), title of a historical work by the Persian writer of ʿAbbasid times Abū Ḥanīfa Aḥmad b. Dāwūd b. Wanand Dīnavarī. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 7, pp. 715-716 AḴBĀR AL- ṬEWĀL, KETĀB AL- (“The book of the long historical narratives”), title of a historical work by the Persian writer of ʿAbbasid times Abū Ḥanīfa Aḥmad b. Dāwūd b. Wanand Dīnavarī, d. ca. 282/894-95 or, at the latest, by 290/902-3. Although very few of his numerous works have survived (the best-known, apart from this, being his Ketāb al-nabāt, a ph…

an ancient town of Upper Mesopotamia, now located in the modern Turkish province of Diyarbakir approximately 40 km/25 miles south-southeast of Edessa, or Urfa. A version of this article is available in print Volume XII, Fascicle 1, pp. 13-14 ḤARRĀN, an ancient town of Upper Mesopotamia, now located in the modern Turkish province of Diyarbakir approximately 40 km/25 miles south-southeast of Edessa, or Urfa. It is the Greek “Hai Kharrai,” and Roman “Carrhae,” but has a more ancient history as the “Ḫarrānu” of Assyrian texts; in the Old…

a town of Central Asia, in early Islamic times the main settlement of the region known as Yeti-su or Semirechye “the land of the seven rivers,” now mainly within the eastern part of the Republic of Kazakhstan. A version of this article is available in print Volume III, Fascicle 6, pp. 582-583 BALĀSĀḠŪN, a town of Central Asia, in early Islamic times the main settlement of the region known as Yeti-su or Semirechye “the land of the seven rivers,” now coming mainly within the eastern part of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The exact site of Balāsāḡūn is…

(Ar. Šāš), the name of a district and of a town in medieval Transoxania; the name of the town was gradually supplanted by that of Tashkent from late Saljuq and Mongol times onwards. A version of this article is available in print Volume IV, Fascicle 6, pp. 604-605 ČĀČ (Ar. Šāš), the name of a district and of a town in medieval Transoxania; the name of the town was gradually supplanted by that of Tashkent (q.v.) from late Saljuq and Mongol times onwards. The pre-Mongol period. The province of Čāč lay on the right bank of the Syr Darya or Jaxartes, with those of Īlāq to its south …

town situated three miles from the left bank of the Oxus river (Āmū Daryā). A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 9, pp. 982-983 ĀMOL (ĀMŪYA), a town situated in 39°5’ north latitude and 63°41 ° east longitude, one farsaḵ or three miles from the left bank of the Oxus river (Āmū Daryā). In medieval Islamic times it fell administratively within the province of Khorasan; today it is Čārǰūy/Čardzou (“Four irrigation canals”), one of the main towns of the Turkmenistan S. S. R. Although surrounded by desert, Āmol ma…

scholastic theologian (motakallem) and founder of the theological school of the Ašʿarīya. A version of this article is available in print Volume II, Fascicle 7, pp. 702-703 AŠʿARĪ, ABU’L-ḤASAN ʿALĪ B. ESMĀʿĪL B. ESḤĀQ, scholastic theologian ( motakallem) and founder of the theological school of the Ašʿarīya or Ašāʿera (ca. 260/874 to 324/936). He was born in Baṣra, a descendant of the famous companion of the Prophet and arbitrator at Ṣeffīn for ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭāleb, Abū Mūsā Ašʿarī, and for the first forty years of his life he was a zealous supporter…

Samanid amir in Transoxania and Khorasan (295-301/907-14). A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 4, pp. 349-350 ABŪ NAṢR AḤMAD B. ESMĀʿĪL SĀMĀNĪ, called AMĪR-E ŠAHĪD (“the martyred amir”) because of his violent death, Samanid amir in Transoxania and Khorasan (295-301/907-14). Under his father, Esmāʿīl b. Aḥmad (the real founder of Samanid fortunes), he had been for a time governor of the recently conquered province of Gorgān (see below). Succeeding as amir, he became ruler of a considerable…

(ŠIRVĀN, ŠARVĀN), a region of Eastern Transcaucasia, known by this name in both early Islamic and more recent times, and now (since 1994) substantially within the independent Azerbaijan Republic. ŠERVĀN (ŠIRVĀN, ŠARVĀN), a region of Eastern Transcaucasia, known by this name in both early Islamic and more recent times, and now (since 1994) substantially within the independent Azerbaijan Republic, being bounded by the Islamic Republic of Iran on the south, the independent Armenian Republic on the west, and Daghestan of the Russian Federation of States on its north. Geography and topo…

Governor of Khorasan (9th century). A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 2, pp. 186-187 ʿABDALLĀH B. ṬĀHER ḎU’L-YAMĪNAYN, governor of Khorasan for the ʿAbbasid caliphs (213-30/828-45) and most outstanding of the line of Taherid governors there. His tenure of power lasted for seventeen years, compared with the short ones of his father (less than two years) and of his brother and predecessor Ṭalḥa (six years), and so it was primarily he who established the fame and splendor of the Taherids and acquired a permanent place in later Arabic literature and culture. ʿAb…

a town of medieval eastern Khorasan, situated just to the south of the Harīrūd River, and variously described in the sources as being between six and ten farsaḵs to the west-southwest of Herat. A version of this article is available in print Volume X, Fascicle 3, pp. 229-230 FŪŠANJ (arabicizedform Būšanj; Mid. Pers. Pūšang [Markwart, Provincial Capitals, p. 11], also reflected in the Būšang of the Ḥodūd al-ʿālam, tr. Minorsky, pp. 64, 104), a town of medieval eastern Khorasan, situated just to the south of the Harīrūd River, and variously described in the sources as being between six and ten f…

a short-lived Iranian dynasty which ruled in the eastern Persian province of Kermān during the 4th/10th century. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 7, pp. 754-756 ĀL-E ELYĀS, a short-lived Iranian dynasty which ruled in the eastern Persian province of Kermān during the 4th/10th century. The founder of the family’s fortunes, Abū ʿAlī Moḥammad b. Elyās, was apparently of Sogdian origin; the family always retained estates in Soḡd. He started his career in the army of the Samanid amir Naṣr II b. Aḥma…