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, Ṣafawid prince, second son of Muḥammad K̲h̲udābanda, born ca. 973/1565-6. In 985/1577 S̲h̲āh Ismāʿīl II ordered that Ḥamza Mīrzā be put to death at S̲h̲īrāz, together with his father and brother, Abū Ṭālib, but Ismaʿīl II was assassinated before the order could be carried out. After the accession of his weak and purblind father, as Sulṭan Muḥammad S̲h̲āh, in D̲h̲u ’l-Ḥid̲j̲d̲j̲a 985/February 1578, Ḥamza Mīrzā was made heir-apparent at the instance of his mother, Mahd-i ʿUlyā, who, until her murder by the ḳi̊zi̊lbās̲h̲ [ q.v.] in 987/1579, was the real power behind the throne; …

, born ca. 968/1560, died probably ca. 1042/1632, author of the Tārīk̲h̲-i ʿĀlam-ārā-yi ʿAbbāsī , one of the greatest works of Persian historiography. The muḳaddima , on the origins of the Ṣafawids and the reigns of Ismaʿīl I and Ṭahmāsp I, is followed by a detailed history of the reign of S̲h̲āh ʿAbbās I. The bulk of the work ( Ṣaḥīfas I and II, or, according to another reckoning, Ṣaḥīfa I and Ṣaḥīfa II, Maḳṣad i) was completed in 1025/1616. A later portion, variously termed Ṣaḥīfa III, or Ṣaḥīfa II, Maḳṣad ii, was completed in 1038/1629, the year of S̲h̲āh ʿAbbās’s death. In the sa…

, born 940/1533-4 (this is conjectured from the available evidence; 110 chronicle gives his date of birth), died 13 Ramaḍān 985/24 November 1577, second son of S̲h̲āh Ṭahmāsp [ q.v.], shah of Persia (984-5/1576-7) of the Ṣafawid dynasty. After the rebellion of his uncle Alḳāṣ [ q.v.], Ismāʿīl was appointed governor of S̲h̲īrwān (954/1547), and conducted several successful campaigns against the Ottomans in the Caucasus and eastern Anatolia. In 962/1555 he married a daughter of the marriage between a sister of Ṭahmāsp and S̲h̲āh Niʿmat Allāh Walī [ q.v.]. The following year, in S̲h̲a…

, styled the Great, king of Persia of the Ṣafawī dynasty, second son and successor of Muḥammad Ḵh̲udābanda, was born on 1 Ramaḍān 978/27 January 1571, and died in Māzandarān on 24 Ḏj̲umāḍā I 1038/19 January 1629, after a reign of 42 solar (43 lunar) years. In 980/1572-3 he remained at Harāt when his father moved to S̲h̲īrāz. In 984/1576-7 Ismāʿīl II put to death the lala (tutor) of ʿAbbās, and appointed ʿAlī Ḳulī Ḵh̲ān S̲h̲āmlū governor of Harāt with orders to execute ʿAbbās himself. ʿAlī Ḳulī procrastinated, and, when the death of Ismāʿī…

, a dynasty which ruled in Persia as “sovereigns 907-1135/1501-1722, as fainéants 1142-8/1729-36, and thereafter, existed as pretenders to the throne up to 1186/1773. I. Dynastic, political and military history. The establishment of the Ṣafawid state in 907/1501 by S̲h̲āh Ismāʿīl I [ q.v.] (initially ruler of Ād̲h̲arbāyd̲j̲ān only) marks an important turning-point in Persian history. In the first place, the Ṣafawids restored Persian sovereignty over the whole of the area traditionally regarded as the heartlands of Persia for the first ti…

, the name of a nationalist and reformist movement in Persia which came into being in 1915 in the forests ( d̲j̲angal ) of Gīlān under the leadership of Mīrzā Kūčik K̲h̲ān, Iḥsān Allāh K̲h̲ān and a number of other liberals ( āzādik̲h̲wāhān ) and constitutionalists ( mud̲j̲āhidīn ). The D̲j̲angalīs (in Persian: d̲j̲angaliyān or aḥrār-i d̲j̲angal ), whose slogans were freedom from foreign influence and the independence of Irān under the banner of Islam, set up a revolutionary committee called Ittiḥād-i Islām , published a newspaper entitled D̲j̲angal . and engage…

i. — general In Arabic, the word nafṭ (Persian nafṭ) is applied to the purest form ( ṣafwa ) of Mesopotamian bitumen ( ḳīr —or ḳār — bābilī ). Its natural colour is white. It occasionally occurs in a black form, but this can be rendered white by sublimation. Nafṭ is efficacious against cataract and leucoma; it has the property of attracting fire from a distance, without direct contact. Mixed with other products (fats, oil, sulphur etc.) which make it more combustible and more adhesive, it constituted the basic ingredient of “Greek fire”, a liquid incendiary compo…

( 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…

, 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…

, 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…

, le fort le plus célèbre d’Asie centrale, situé à 110km. environ au Nord de Mas̲h̲had, près de la frontière iranosoviétique, sur un éperon des montagnes du Ḳarād̲j̲adāg̲h̲: il s’agit d’une vallée élevée (ait. 750 à 900 mètres), longue d’une trentaine de km. et orientée d’Ouest en Est, avec, au Nord et au Sud, des parois rocheuses pratiquement impossibles à escalader qui en font une véritable forteresse naturelle; la hauteur du rempart Sud est de 210 à 240 mètres et le rempart Nord est encore pl…