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(or Bāhalīm), military commanders and governors in northern India under the later Ghaznavid sultans in the late 5th/11th and early 6th/12th centuries. A version of this article is available in print Volume IV, Fascicle 5, pp. 489 BŪ ḤALĪM (or Bāhalīm) ŠAYBĀNĪ, a family of military commanders and governors in northern India under the later Ghaznavid sultans in the late 5th/11th and early 6th/12th centuries. The nesba Šaybān need only indicate an attempt to acquire an affiliation to the great Arab tribe of Šaybān of Bakr b. Wāʾel. In fact, the family seems to ha…

Čaḡānīrūd in Farroḵī, the seventh and last right-bank tributary of the Oxus or Amu Darya. A version of this article is available in print Volume IV, Fascicle 6, pp. 615-616 ČAḠĀNRŪD (Čaḡānīrūd in Farroḵī, the seventh and last right-bank tributary of the Oxus or Amu Darya, rising in what in medieval Islamic times were known as the Bottamān mountains and flowing southwards through the principality of Čaḡānīān into the Oxus just above the important crossing-point of Termeḏ (modern Termez). Hence it flows from what is now the Gi…

(Afrighid dynasty), the name given by the Khwarazmian scholar Abū Rayḥān Bīrūnī to the dynasty of rulers in his country, with the ancient title of Ḵᵛārazmšāh. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 7, pp. 743-745 ĀL-E AFRĪḠ (Afrighid dynasty), the name given by the Khwarazmian scholar Abū Rayḥān Bīrūnī to the dynasty of rulers in his country, with the ancient title of Ḵᵛārazmšāh. According to him, the Afrighids ruled from 305 A.D. (year 616 of the Seleucid era), through the Arab conquests under Qotayba b. Mos…

(“Manual for secretaries”), a work composed by the celebrated Baghdad scholar probably of Khorasanian mawlā origin, Ebn Qotayba (213-76/828-89). A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 4, pp. 446 ADAB AL-KĀTEB (“Manual for secretaries”), a work composed by the celebrated Baghdad scholar probably of Khorasanian mawlā origin, Ebn Qotayba (213-76/828-89). It was written during the caliphate of Motawakkel (r. 232-47/847-61) and dedicated to his vizier, Fatḥ b. Ḵāqān. Although its title makes one think of the great line of…

a town of the medieval Islamic region of Arrān, the classical Caucasian Albania, lying in the triangle between the Kor and Aras (Araxes) rivers. A version of this article is available in print Volume IV, Fascicle 1, pp. 2 BAYLAQĀN, Armenian form Pʿaytakaran (cf. Marquart, Osteuropäische und ostasiatische Streifzüge, Leipzig, 1903, p. 457), a town of the medieval Islamic region ofArrān, the classical Caucasian Albania, lying in the triangle between the Kor and Aras (Araxes) rivers, in what is today the Mīl steppe in Soviet Azerbaijan. In Islam…

Turkish commander and rebel under the early Ghaznavid sultan Masʿūd I (421-32/1030-41), d. 426/1035. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 6, pp. 647 AḤMAD INALTIGIN (in the sources, usually spelt Yenāltegīn or, erroneously, Nīaltegīn), Turkish commander and rebel under the early Ghaznavid sultan Masʿūd I (421-32/1030-41), d. 426/1035. Aḥmad had been treasurer under Maḥmūd and in favor with him. When Masʿūd succeeded Maḥmūd in 421/1030, he made a clean sweep of the adherents of the old regime (Ma…

a distinguished family of officials, littérateurs, ʿ olamāʾ, and traditionists from Bayhaq (modern Sabzavār). A version of this article is available in print Volume II, Fascicle 1, pp. 6-7 ʿANBARĪĀN, a distinguished family of officials, littérateurs, ʿ olamāʾ, and traditionists from Bayhaq (modern Sabzavār). Their activities in public and scholarly life from the 4th/10th to the 6th/12th centuries are known above all through Ebn Fondoq’s Tārīḵ-e Bayhaq (ed. A. Bahmanyār, Tehran, 1317 Š./1938, pp. 119-22, 182-83). The family was probably Iranian in origin, but, according …

these centers played important diplomatic and administrative roles in Iranian history, closely linked to the fortunes of the ruling families. A version of this article is available in print Volume IV, Fascicle 7, pp. 768-774 i. In Pre-Islamic Times Iranians most probably first coalesced into an organized community in the Jaxartes and Oxus basins (see most recently Francfort, pp. 165ff.) and gradually migrated westward, eventually reaching as far west as Babylonia on the Mesopotamian plain (Pahl. (A)sōristān, q.v.). This region was to become their cultural and political center, Del-…

B. ʿOBAYD-ALLĀH B. MOḤAMMAD BALʿAMĪ TAMĪMĪ, vizier to the Samanid amir Naṣr b. Aḥmad (r. 913-42), father of the vizier and historian Amirak Baḷʿamī. A version of this article is available in print Volume III, Fascicle 6, pp. 573-574 BALʿAMĪ, ABU’L- FAŻL MOḤAMMAD B. ʿOBAYD-ALLĀH B. MOḤAMMAD BALʿAMĪ TAMĪMĪ, vizier to the Samanid amir Naṣr b. Aḥmad, father of the vizier and historian Abū ʿAlī Moḥammad b. Moḥammad Balʿamī (see amīrak balʿamī) and thus member of a distinguished family in the service of the rulers of Transoxania and Khorasan. The unusual nesba Balʿamī is explained by Samʿānī, Ket…

or ERZENJĀN, a town of northeastern Anatolia. A version of this article is available in print Volume II, Fascicle 7, pp. 690-691 ARZENJĀN or ERZENJĀN (Greek Erzingan, Armenian Erēz, Erznga(n), in modern Turkish orthography Erzincan), a town of northeastern Anatolia in 39° 45’ north latitude and 39° 30’ east longitude, situated on the north bank of the Qara-sū, one of the headwaters of the Euphrates at an altitude of 1,200 m. It lies in a fertile plain below high mountain ranges, and the Arzenǰān corridor formerly car…

Ghaznavid prince and briefly amir in Ḡazna in 997-98. A version of this article is available in print Volume VIII, Fascicle 6, pp. 627 ESMĀʿĪL B. SEBOKTEGĪN, Ghaznavid prince and briefly amir in Ḡazna in 387-88/997-98. Esmāʿīl was one of Seboktegīn’s younger sons by a daughter of his old master Alptegīn. Seboktegīn had appointed him as his successor in Ḡazna and Balḵ, so that on his death in Šaʿbān 387/August 997, Esmāʿīl was able immediately to assume power there as the vassal of the Samanid amir, Manṣūr b. Nūḥ, and of …

a name frequently applied in medieval Islam to beggars, rogues, charlatans, and tricksters of all kinds, allegedly so called because they stemmed from a legendary Shaikh Sāsān. A version of this article is available in print Volume III, Fascicle 7, pp. 721-722 BANŪ SĀSĀN, a name frequently applied in medieval Islam to beggars, rogues, charlatans, and tricksters of all kinds, allegedly so called because they stemmed from a legendary Shaikh Sāsān. A story frequently found in the sources, from Ebn al-Moqaffaʿ onward, states that Sāsān was t…

castrated males who were in charge of the concubines of royal harems, served in the daily life of the court, and sometimes carried out administrative functions. A version of this article is available in print Volume IX, Fascicle 1, pp. 64-69 i. THE ACHAEMENID PERIOD According to Herodotus (8.105), the Persians, like other Oriental peoples, valued eunuchs highly for their trustworthiness. Ctesias and Xenophon date the appearance of eunuchs in Persia to the time of Cyrus the Great. It is possible that the Persians adopted the practice of cas…

(or ESTERĀBĀD), the older Islamic name for the modern town of Gorgān in northeastern Iran, and also the name of an administrative province in Qajar times. A version of this article is available in print Volume II, Fascicle 8, pp. 838-840 ASTARĀBĀD (or ESTERĀBĀD), the older Islamic name for the modern town of Gorgān in northeastern Iran, and also the name of an administrative province in Qajar times. i. History The district and province. This lies at the southeastern corner of the Caspian Sea, and is essentially a lowland and piedmont area, rather drier in climate and…

(or Āzaḏvār), a small town of Khorasan in the district (kūra, rostāq) of Jovayn, which flourished in medieval Islamic times, apparently down to the Il-khanid period. A version of this article is available in print Volume III, Fascicle 2, pp. 179 ĀZĀDVĀR (or ĀZAḎVĀR), a small town of Khorasan in the district ( kūra, rostāq) of Jovayn, which flourished in medieval Islamic times, apparently down to the Il-khanid period. It lay eight farsakhs from Jājarm and at the western end of the very fertile Jovayn corridor between the Kūh-e Čaḡatāy to the south a…

i. In pre-Islamic times. ii. From the Arab invasions to the Mongols. iii. After the Mongol invasion. iv. The khanate of Bukhara and Khorasan. v. Archeology and monuments. vi. The Bukharan school of miniature painting. vii. Bukharan Jews. A version of this article is available in print Volume IV, Fascicle 5, pp. 511 BUKHARA i. In Pre-Islamic Times The site or town of Bukhara was one of many settlements in the large oasis formed by the mouths of the Zarafshan (Zarafšān) river in ancient Sogdiana. Since there is no evidence that the river reached the Oxus…

(in modern Persian administrative usage a rural district consisting of a number of villages), the name of a region in medieval Gorgān and a town in Bādḡīs and another in Kermān. A version of this article is available in print Volume VII, Fascicle 2, pp. 215-216 DEHESTĀN (in modern Persian administrative usage a rural district consisting of a number of villages), the name of a region in medieval Gorgān and a town in Bādḡīs and another in Kermān (Yāqūt, Boldān, II, p. 492). Dehestān in Gorgān. The region of Dehestān (or perhaps Dahestān) lay southeast of the Caspian Sea, north of …

by the 10th century, one of the towns of the Farighunid princes of Gūzgān, vassals of the Samanids. The medieval name was revived when the high governorate ( ḥokūmat-e ʿalā) of Maymana was elevated to the rank of province ( welāyat). Its cities, besides Maymana, are Andḵūy and Dawlatābād. A version of this article is available in print Volume IX, Fascicle 4, pp. 379-382 FĀRYĀB (also spelled Pāryāb, Bāryāb), a town in northern Afghanistan, now in the modern Afghan province of Faryāb. i. IN PRE-MODERN ISLAMIC TIMES Early Islamic Fāryāb lay within the region of Gūzgān/Jūzjān (q.v.). …

author of an extremely important travel narrative written after he had been a member of an embassy in the early 4th/10th century from the ʿAbbasid caliphate to the ruler of the Bulghars on the middle Volga in Russia. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 6, pp. 640 AḤMAD B. FAŻLĀN B. AL-ʿABBĀS B. RAŠĪD, author of an extremely important travel narrative written after he had been a member of an embassy in the early 4th/10th century from the ʿAbbasid caliphate to the ruler of the Bulghars on the middle Volga in Russia. Noth…

(786-833), Abu’l-ʿAbbās ʿAbd-Allāh, the seventh Abbasid caliph (r. 813-833), son of Hārun-al-Rašid (d. 809) by a Persian concubine. MAʾMUN, Abu’l-ʿAbbās ʿAbd-Allāh (b. 786; d. near Tarsus in July-August 833), the seventh Abbasid caliph (r. 813-33; see ʿABBASID CALIPHATE), the son of Hārun-al-Rašid (d. 809) by a Persian concubine, named Marājel. He spent the earlier part of his reign in Khorasan, and only moved to Baghdad in 819. Between 791 and 792, Hārun had named as his heir his son Moḥammad Abu Musā (r. as Amin 809-13), who was slightly younger than Maʾmun b…