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(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…

(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 …

, 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; …

, the laḳab of muʿīn al-dīn ʿalī ḥusaynī sarābī tabrīzī , mystic, poet and leading Ṣafawid dāʿi . Born in 757/1356 in the Sarāb district of Tabrīz in Ād̲h̲arbāyd̲j̲ān, Muʿīn al-Dīn ʿAlī became at an early age the disciple ( murīd ) of the s̲h̲ayk̲h̲ of the Ṣafawid ṭarīḳa Ṣadr al-Dīn Mūsā [ q.v.], who bestowed on him the laḳab of Ḳāsim-i Anwār, “Distributor of Lights”, as the result of a vision experienced by his disciple. Muʿīn al-Dīn ʿAlī saw himself standing in the Masd̲j̲id-i D̲j̲āmiʿ at Ardabīl, holding in his hand a great candle from which the memb…

, 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…

, “the most famous fort of Central Asia”, located some 70 miles north of Mas̲h̲had near the Irano-Soviet border, on a spur of the Ḳarād̲j̲a-Dāg̲h̲ Mts. Kalāt-i Nādirī consists of a high valley (altitude 2,500-3,000 feet), some twenty miles long and running west-east, which is converted into a natural fortress by walls of virtually unscalable rock to the north and south. The height of the southern rampart is 700-800 ft; the northern rampart is even higher. These walls are breached at only five po…

, grandson of the ḳi̊zi̊lbās̲h̲ chief Amīr Sulṭān Rūmlū, the governor of Ḳazwīn and Sāud̲j̲ Bulāg̲h̲, who died in 946/1539-40. Ḥasan-i Rūmlū was born at Ḳumm in 937/1530-1, and was trained in the Ṣafawid army as a ḳūrčī . Ḥasan-i Rūmlū is chiefly remembered as the author of a twelve-volume general history entitled Aḥsan altawārīk̲h̲ . Only two volumes are extant, but these are probably the most valuable ones. Vol. x, covering the period 807-899/1405-1493, exists only in MS. in Leningrad (Dorn 287). C. N. Seddon published (Barod…

, a province of south-western Persia, and the land of the Hūz/Ḥūz/K̲h̲ūz (Hussi/Kussi), the Oὔξιοι/Uxii of Strabo and Pliny. The province of K̲h̲ūzistān corresponds more or less to the ancient Elam and to the classical Susiana, and the names of its present capital, Ahwāz [ q.v.], its ancient capital, Susa [ q.v.], and the town of Ḥawīza [ q.v.], all reflect the name of its inhabitants in Elamite times. Essentially, the province consists of alluvial fans formed by the Kark̲h̲a and the Kārūn [ qq.v.] rivers and situated between the Zagros mountains and the sea; near the Persian G…

, chief town (population in 1966: 88,536) of the s̲h̲ahristān of the same name (population in 1966: 156,281) in the Iranian province of K̲h̲ūzistān ( ustān 6), and situated in long. 48° 09′ E., lat. 30° 25′ N. Its elevation above sea-level is 8 m./26 ft., and the climate is hot and humid, with summer temperatures rising to 58° C./136° F., and a winter minimum of 8° C./46° F. The present town is the successor of a number of settlements which, since ancient times, have been located in the general area where the Kārūn (Dud̲j̲ayl) river and the combined Tigris and Eu…

, 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…

, the name of a place in Māzandarān, situated 36° 50′ N., 53° 2′ 38″ E., 17 m. north of Sārī and 26 m. north-west of As̲h̲raf [ q.v.], near the mouth of the Tid̲j̲in (or Tīd̲j̲ān, or Tid̲j̲īna) river. Formerly known as Ṭāhān, the site was renamed Faraḥābād by S̲h̲āh ʿAbbās I, who in 1020/1611-2 or 1021/1612-3 ordered the construction of a royal palace there. Around the palace were built residences, gardens, baths, bazaars, mosques and caravanserais. The new town, according to Pietro della Valle, was peopled by S̲h̲āh ʿAbbā…

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…

, Kankiwar , Kangāwar , a small town of western Persia (population in 1975, 13,144) situated in lat. 34°29′ N., long. 47°55′ E., and in the bak̲h̲s̲h̲ of the same time in the s̲h̲ahristān of Kirmāns̲h̲āhān. The town is almost equidistant from the cities of Kirmāns̲h̲āh and Hamadān [ qq.v.], and lies at an altitude of 1,467 m. ; it is first mentioned by Isidore of Charax under the name “Concobar”. The bak̲h̲s̲h̲ comprises (1975) four dihistāns , with a total of some sixty villages and a population of about 38,435. The economy of the region is based on agriculture and trade. The Kangāwar valley ha…

, 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 …

(Pers.), “sanctuary, asylum”, a term applied to certain places which were regarded as affording an inviolable sanctuary to any malefactor, however grave his crime; once within the protection of the bast , the malefactor could negotiate with his pursuers, and settle the ransom which would purchase his immunity when he left the bast. In Persia the idea of bast was connected in particular with (1) mosques and other sacred buildings, especially the tombs of saints (for example, in 806/1404 Tīmūr is said to have recognised the tomb ( mazār ) at Ardabīl of S̲h̲ayk̲h̲…

(Täkkä-lü), the name of a group of Turcomans originating from the regions of Menteşe, Aydin, Saruhan, Hamit and Germiyan in southern Anatolia, an area known collectively as Tekeili [ q.v.] ( Tārīk̲h̲-i Ḳizilbās̲h̲ān , ed. Mīr Hās̲h̲im Muḥaddit̲h̲, Tehran 1361 AHS/1982, 27). The Turcoman tribes of Anatolia were one of the primary targets of Ṣafawid propaganda ( daʿwa ) [see bāyazīd ii ; ṣafawids. i ], and the Takkalūs responded early to this call and entered the service of the Ṣafawid s̲h̲ayk̲h̲s D̲j̲unayd and Ḥaydar [ q.v.]. In 905/1499, when Ismāʿīl [see ismāʿīl i …

, 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…

( Čobanids ), a family of Mongol amīr s claiming descent from a certain Sūrg̲h̲ān ¶ S̲h̲īra of the Suldūz tribe who had once saved the I life of Čingiz Ḵh̲ān. The most notable members of this family were: (1) Amīr Čūbān . An able and experienced military commander, Amīr Čūbān, according to Ḥamd Allāh Mustawfī, fought his first battle in Rabīʿ II 688/April-May 1289 ( Tāʾrīk̲h̲-i Guzīda (GMS), 588); thereafter he served with distinction under the Ilk̲h̲āns Arg̲h̲ūn, Gayk̲h̲ātū, G̲h̲āzān and Uld̲j̲āytū [ qq.v.]. He was appointed amīr al-umarāʾ by Abū Saʿīd in 717/…

(S̲h̲aykh Ṣadr al-Milla wa ’l-Dīn Mūsā), second son of Ṣafī al-Dīn Ardabīlī [ q.v.], born 1 S̲h̲awwāl 704/26 April 1305 (S̲h̲aykh Ḥusayn b. Abdāl Zāhidī, Silsilat al-nasab-i Ṣafawiyya , Iranschähr Publications no. 6, Berlin 1924-5, 39). Designated by his father as his successor and vicegerent ( k̲h̲alīfa wa nāʾib-munāb ), Ṣadr al-Dīn assumed the leadership of the Ṣafawid Order in 735/1334. He expanded the Ṣafawid mausoleum complex at Ardabīl, adding rooms for private meditation ( k̲h̲alwat-k̲h̲āna ), a residence for Ḳurʾān-readers ( dār al-ḥuffāẓ ), and a room ( čīnī-k̲h̲āna …