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the name of two of the later amirs of the Samanids (q.v.), the first ruling in both Transoxiana and Khorasan, and the second in Transoxiana only. MANṢUR B. NUḤ, the name of two of the later amirs of the Samanids (q.v.), the first ruling in both Transoxiana and Khorasan, and the second in Transoxiana only. 1. MANṢUR(I) B. NUḤ (I), Abu Ṣāleḥ, called Amir-e Sadid “The Righteous, Just Amir” (r. 350-69/961-76). By the mid-4th/10th century, the Samanid empire had reached its peak of power. Subsequently, the authority of the Amirs was increasingly challenged by pow…

The Iranian name of the family, Farīḡūn, may well be connected with that of the legendary Iranian figure Farīdūn/Afrīdūn; moreover the author of the Ḥodūd al-ʿālam, who seems to have lived and worked in Gūzgān, specifically says in his entry on the geography of Gūzgān that the malek of that region was a descendant of Afrīdūn. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 7, pp. 756-758 ĀL-E FARĪḠŪN, a minor Iranian dynasty of Gūzgān (Gūzgānān, Jūzǰān; in what is now northern Afghanistan) which flourished from some time before the beginning of th…

Elwell-Sutton’s interests and publications in Persian studies fall into five categories: Persian language; Persian literature; modern Persian history and politics; Persian folklore; and Islamic science. His Colloquial Persian and Elementary Persian Grammar have remained in print as standard works. A version of this article is available in print Volume VIII, Fascicle 4, pp. 372-373 ELWELL-SUTTON, LAURENCE PAUL (b. Ballylickey, Cork County, Ireland, 2 June 1912-d. Edinburgh, 2 September 1984), scholar of Islamic and modern Persia (Figure 1). Son of a…

the name both of an administrative subdistrict (dehestān) and its chef-lieu in the First Province (ostān). A version of this article is available in print Volume II, Fascicle 8, pp. 847-848 ĀŠTĪĀN, the name both of an administrative subdistrict ( dehestān) and its chef-lieu in the First Province ( ostān). It lies on the northeastern side of the central Zagros mountain massif in a region traditionally known as ʿErāq (modern Arāk), and the dehestān is one of three making up the district ( baḵš) of Ṭarḵūrān in the subprovince ( šahrastān) of Arāk or Solṭānābād; the town of Arāk lies to …

river of northern Khorasan, flowing first northwest, and then southwest into the Caspian Sea. A version of this article is available in print Volume III, Fascicle 1, pp. 16 ATRAK, river of northern Khorasan, flowing first northwest, and then southwest into the Caspian Sea. Its course is some 320 miles (according to Ḥamdallāh Mostawfī, 120 farsaḵs); the upper two-thirds drain the wide trough between the mountain chains of the Kopet-Dag and the Kūh-e Hazār Masjed to the north and the Kūh-e ʿAlī, Kūh-e Šāh Jahān and Kūh-e Bīnālūd to the south. The Atra…

a small town in the Qazvīn district. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 2, pp. 213-214 ABHAR (or Awhar in local pronunciation, see Ḥodūd al-ʿālam, tr. Minorsky, pp. 132, 383), a small town in the Qazvīn district, on the highway connecting Ray and later Tehran with Tabrīz and Azerbaijan. The geographers state that it lay 12 farsaḵs west of Qazvīn and that Zanǰān (the town with which it is often coupled in the geographical and historical sources) was 20 farsaḵs farther (thus Ebn Ḥawqal, tr. Kramers, p. 351; but Ebn Rosta, tr. Wiet, p. 196, makes this last journey 15 far…

a port of Lower Iraq during the classical and medieval Islamic periods. It lay in the delta region of the Tigris, at the head of the Šaṭṭ al-ʿArab, on the west bank of the Tigris and on the north side of the canal, the Nahr al-Obolla which, together with the Nahr Maʿqel, connected Obolla with Baṣra during the early Islamic period. OBOLLA, a port of Lower Iraq during the classical and medieval Islamic periods. It lay in the delta region of the Tigris, at the head of the Šaṭṭ al-ʿArab, on the west bank of the Tigris and on the north side of the canal, the N…

the official postal and intelligence service of the early Islamic caliphate and its successor states. The service operated by means of couriers mounted on mules or horses or camels or traveling on foot. A version of this article is available in print Volume III, Fascicle 8, pp. 797-798 BARĪD, the official postal and intelligence service of the early Islamic caliphate and its successor states. The service operated by means of couriers mounted on mules or horses or camels or traveling on foot. In this way, official letters and dispatches were delivered to the central dīvān in Damascus or B…

title given to various dynastic rulers of Ḵᵛārazm (see CHORASMIA).KHWARAZMSHAH i. AFRIGHIDS See ĀL-E AFRIḠ. KHWARAZMSHAH ii. MAʾMUNIDS See ĀL-E MAʾMUN. KHWARAZMSHAH iii. LINE OF ANUŠTIGIN After the Saljuq takeover in Khwarazm in the early 1040s, the Saljuq Sultans appointed various governors in the province, including Alp Arslān’s (r. 1063-72) son Arslān Arḡun, a son of the vizier Neẓām-al-Molk (1018-92), and several Turkish ḡolām commanders (see BARDA AND BARDADĀRI). One of these last was Anuštigin Ḡarčaʾi, Malek Šāh’s (r. 1073-92) ṭaštdār, or keeper of the royal washing b…

(or BANU’L-AḤRĀR), in Arabic literally “the free ones,” a name applied by the Arabs at the time of the Islamic conquests to their Persian foes in Iraq and Iran. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 6, pp. 667 AḤRĀR (or BANU’L-AḤRĀR), in Arabic literally “the free ones,” a name applied by the Arabs at the time of the Islamic conquests to their Persian foes in Iraq and Iran. In a poem by the Prophet’s older contemporary, Omayya b. Abi’l-Ṣalt al-Ṯaqafī, concerning the Persian conquest of Yemen from the Ethiopian…

It is likely that substitution ciphers were used by early Persian states, for nearly identical versions were still in use in Qajar Persia. During the reigns of Fatḥ-ʿAlī Shah and Moḥammad Shah (1834-48) the minister Abu’l-Qāsem Qāʾemmaqām devised a number of letter-substitution codes for communicating with different princes and viziers. A version of this article is available in print Volume V, Fascicle 8, pp. 883-885 CODES ( romūz, sg. ramz), including the use of secret writing and cryptanalysis, in Persia. The use of codes in communications and diplomacy goes ba…

an Islamic dynasty of Turkish slave origin 977-1186, which in its heyday ruled in the eastern Iranian lands, briefly as far west as Ray and Jebāl; for a while in certain regions north of the Oxus, most notably, in Kᵛārazm; and in Baluchistan and in northwestern India.A version of this article is available in printVolume X, Fascicle 6, pp. 578-583 GHAZNAVIDS, an Islamic dynasty of Turkish slave origin (366-582/977-1186), which in its heyday ruled in the eastern Iranian lands, briefly as far west as Ray and Jebāl; for a while in certain regions north of th…

sect of early Islam which arose out of the conflict between ʿAli b. Abi Ṭāleb (r. 656-61) and Moʿāwiya b. Abi Sufyān (r. 661-80). A version of this article is available in print Volume XVI, Fascicle 4, pp. 434-435 KHARIJITES IN PERSIA, adherents of a sect of early Islam that arose out of the conflict between ʿAli b. Abi Ṭāleb (q.v.; r. 35-40/656-61) and Moʿāwiya b. Abi Sofyān (r. 41-60/661-80), the fourth and the fifth caliph respectively, when their opposing armies met at Ṣeffin in 37/657. An intransigent element in ʿAli’s forces withdrew its allegiance (Ar. ḵaraja, ‘to leave’) when he ag…

or BARDAʿA (Arm. Partav, Georgian Bardavi, Mid. Pers. Pērōzāpāt), the chief town until the 10th century of the Islamic province of Arrān, the classical Caucasian Albania. A version of this article is available in print Volume III, Fascicle 7, pp. 779-780 BARḎAʿA or BARDAʿA (Arm. Partav, Georgian Bardavi, Mid. Pers. Pērōzāpāt; see Marquart, Ērānšahr, pp. 117-18), the chief town until the 4th/10th century of the Islamic province of Arrān, the classical Caucasian Albania, situated two or three farsaḵs (i.e., 8-12 miles) south of the Kor river on its affluent the Ṯarṯūr (mod…

ruler of Ḵᵛārazm with the traditional title Ḵᵛārazmšāh, 521 or 522/1127 or 1128 to 551/1156. A version of this article is available in print Volume III, Fascicle 1, pp. 18-19 ATSÏZ ḠARČAʾĪ, ʿALĀʾ-AL-DĪN WA’L-DAWLA ABU’L-MOẒAFFAR B. MOḤAMMAD B. ANŪŠTIGIN, ruler of Ḵᵛārazm with the traditional title Ḵᵛārazmšāh, 521 or 522/1127 or 1128 to 551/1156. His family was of Turkish ḡolām origin; his grandfather was appointed governor of Ḵᵛārazm by the Saljuq Sultan Malekšāh; and his father Qoṭb-al-dīn Moḥammad succeeded in the office. In effect, the governorship t…

a province of medieval Islamic times on the right bank of the upper Oxus river in modern Tajikistan. A region of lush pastures, Ḵottal was famed for horse-breeding. ḴOTTAL (Ḵottalan), a province of medieval Islamic times on the right bank of the upper Oxus river in modern Tajikistan. The province lay between the Vaḵšāb and Jaryāb rivers, which are the Vaḵš tributary of the Oxus (see ĀMU DARYĀ) and the upper course of the Oxus, now known as the Panj. To its west were the provinces of Vakš, Qobāḏiān and Čaḡāniān, and to its east the northeaster…

Turkish slave comꏂmander of the Ghaznavid sultans Maḥmūd and Masʿūd (d. 1040). A version of this article is available in print Volume IV, Fascicle 1, pp. 86 BEGTOḠDÏ (Turkish, lit. “a prince has been born, has arisen,” Persian Baktoḡdī), Turkish slave commander of the Ghaznavid sultans Maḥmūd and Masʿūd, d. 431/1040. His career must have begun in the reign of Maḥmūd, though it is only in the time of his son Masʿūd (421-32/1031-41) that he achieved prominence and commands. He was appointed commander-in-chief in Khorasan at…

b. Mīḵāʾīl b. Saljūq, Abū Solaymān, a member of the Saljuqs, the leading family of the Oghuz Turks, who with his brother Ṭoḡrel (Ṭoḡrïl) Beg founded the Great Saljuq dynasty in Persia in the 5th/11th century. A version of this article is available in print Volume IV, Fascicle 6, pp. 617-618 ČAḠRĪ BEG DĀWŪD b. Mīḵāʾīl b. Saljūq, Abū Solaymān (b. in the 380s/990s, d. 452/1060), a member of the Saljuqs, the leading family of the Oghuz Turks, who with his brother Ṭoḡrel (Ṭoḡrïl) Beg founded the Great Saljuq dynasty in Persia in the 5th/11th century. A…

Ḵᵛārazmšāh who reigned in Transoxania and central and eastern Iran as well as in Ḵᵛārazm, (596-617/1200-20). A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 7, pp. 780-782 ʿALĀʾ-AL- DĪN ABU’L-FATḤ MOḤAMMAD B. TEKIŠ B. IL-ARSLAN, Ḵᵛārazmšāh who reigned in Transoxania and central and eastern Iran as well as in Ḵᵛārazm, 596-617/1200-20. ʿAlāʾ-al-dīn Moḥammad (before his succession to supreme power he was actually known by the laqab or honorific of Qoṭb-al-dīn, traditional amongst the Ḵᵛārazmšāhs of Anūštigin’s line) was the second son of Sultan Te…

“commander, governor, prince” in Arabic. The term seems to be basically Islamic; although it does not occur in the Koran, we do find there the related concept of the “holders of authority.” A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 9, pp. 956-958 AMĪR, “commander, governor, prince” in Arabic. Etymologically, the Arabic root amara “to command” corresponds to the common Hebrew root āmār “to say;” the amir, as well as being the person entitled to give orders and command, thus might also be considered as the spokesman and orator of his gro…