Search

an Arab dynasty that ruled in central Iraq with their capital at Ḥira for roughly three centuries, from about 300 to 602 CE, generally but intermittently as the allies and clients of the Sasanian kings of Persia. LAKHMIDS, an Arab dynasty that ruled in central Iraq with their capital at Ḥira for roughly three centuries, from about 300 to 602 CE, generally but intermittently as the allies and clients of the Sasanian kings of Persia, with especially close links in the sixth century, when the Lakhmids were bulwarks of the Sasanian pos…

the title of a geographical work composed in Arabic during the 7th/13th century by the Persian scholar Abū Yaḥyā Zakarīyāʾ b. Moḥammad Qazvīnī. A version of this article is available in print Volume II, Fascicle 8, pp. 909-911 ĀṮĀR AL- BELĀD, the title of a geographical work composed in Arabic during the 7th/13th century by the Persian scholar Abū Yaḥyā Zakarīyāʾ b. Moḥammad Qazvīnī (ca. 600-82/1203-83, q.v.). Qazvīnī’s fame rests on two major works of his, both written in Arabic (in fact, a rather indifferent Arabic, indicating that …

Ghaznavid vizier of the middle years of the 5th/11th century. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 2, pp. 157-158 ʿABD-AL -RAZZĀQ ABU’L-FATḤ B. AḤMAD B. ḤASAN MAYMANDĪ, Ghaznavid vizier of the middle years of the 5th/11th century. He was the son of the famous minister of sultans Maḥmūd and Masʿūd I, Šams-al-kofāt Aḥmad b. Ḥasan Maymandī (d. 424/1032). The Maymandī family served the Ghaznavids for at least three generations, since a nephew of ʿAbd-al-Razzāq, Abū Naṣr (or Abu’l-Moʾayyed) Manṣūr b. Saʿīd b. Aḥmad b. Ḥasan, was ʿāreż or war minister under sult…

vizier of the Samanids in the last years of their power. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 3, pp. 255 ABŪ ʿALĪ MOḤAMMAD B. ʿĪSĀ DĀMḠĀNĪ, vizier of the Samanids in the last years of their power. The reign of Amīr Nūḥ II b. Manṣūr (365-87/976-97) was rent by internal strife among the great military leaders of the state, with the viziers tending to become the creatures of one or other opposing faction in the state. Dāmḡānī’s predecessor ʿAbdallāh b. Moḥammad b. ʿOzayr (ʿAzīz?) had been the protég…

Turkish slave commander of the Ghaznavid sultans and governor in Ḵᵛārazm (408-23/1017-32). A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 9, pp. 914-915 ALTUNTAŠ (ĀLTŪNTAŠ) ḤĀJEB, ABŪ SAʿĪD, Turkish slave commander of the Ghaznavid sultans and governor in Ḵᵛārazm (408-23/1017-32). He began his career under Sebüktigin, founder of the Ghaznavid dynasty, and under his son Maḥmūd was a leading general. He commanded the right wing of the forces in the battle near Balk in 398/1008 between Maḥmūd and the invading Qarakhanids under the ilig Naṣr b. ʿAlī. In 401/1010-11…

also known under her married surname of Bishop (1831-1904), British traveler in western Iran and Kurdistan during the late Victorian period. A version of this article is available in print Volume IV, Fascicle 3, pp. 264-265 BIRD, ISABELLA L., also known under her married surname of Bishop (1831-1904), British traveler in western Iran and Kurdistan during the late Victorian period. Coming from a line of Warwickshire gentry with strong links with the East India Company and the Anglican Church, Isabella inherited a firm Evangelical C…

the name of a family of spiritual and civic leaders in Bokhara during the 6th/12th and early 7th/13th centuries. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 7, pp. 753-754 ĀL-E BORHĀN, the name of a family of spiritual and civic leaders in Bokhara during the 6th/12th and early 7th/13th centuries; stemming from Marv, they were so called because virtually all of them seem to have had the laqab (honorific) of Borhān-al-Dīn or Borhān-al-Mella wa’l-dīn. The Islamic religious institution in the cities of Turkestan seems to have enjoyed a position of specia…

nesba (attributive name) for Dargazīn (or Darjazīn), borne by several viziers of the Great Saljuqs in the 12th century. A version of this article is available in print Volume VII, Fascicle 1, pp. 33-34 DARGAZĪNĪ, nesba (attributive name) for Dargazīn (or Darjazīn), borne by several viziers of the Great Saljuqs in the 12th century. The most distinguished was Abu’l-Qāsem Nāṣer b. ʿAlī, Qewām-al-Dīn Zayn-al-Molk ʿEmād-al-Dawla; he and his relative and successor ʿEmād-al-Dīn Abu’l-Barakāt, at least, also bore the additional nesba Anasābāḏī (after Anasābāḏ, a village in the dis…

early 10th-century military leader during the period of Samanid expansion. A version of this article is available in print Volume II, Fascicle 7, pp. 747-748 ASFĀR B. ŠĪRŪYA (Asfār is a local Caspian form of Mid. Pers. aswār, NPers. savār “rider, cavalryman;” Justi, Namenbuch, p. 46), a military leader from Lāhīǰān in Gīlān. In the early decades of the 4th/10th century, after the breakdown of caliphal control in northwestern Persia, he carved out a momentary share of power in Ṭabarestān, Daylam, and the regions along the southern rim of …

lit. “keeper, bearer of [the royal] inkwell or inkstand”; title of various officials in medieval Islamic states. A version of this article is available in print Volume VII, Fascicle 2, pp. 136 DAWĀ(T)DĀR (lit., “keeper, bearer of [the royal] inkwell or inkstand”), title of various officials in medieval Islamic states. At an early stage in the development of the vizierate under the ʿAbbasid caliphs the vizier bore an inkstand ( dawāt) as emblem of his office; it was usually suspended from the wrist on a chain and carried in a sleeve or, in a slimmer version ( dawāt laṭīfa), in his boot (Helāl…

Ghaznavid sultan, r. 441-44/1050-53. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 2, pp. 149-150 ʿABD-AL -RAŠĪD, ABŪ MANṢŪR ʿEZZ-AL-DAWLA B. MAḤMŪD B. SEBÜKTIGĪN, Ghaznavid sultan, r. 441-44/1050-53. He succeeded to the amirate after the death of Mawdūd b. Masʿūd in Raǰab, 441/December, 1049 and the brief reigns of the child Masʿūd b. Mawdūd and of Bahāʾ-al-dawla ʿAlī b. Masʿūd. The actual date of ʿAbd-al-Rašīd’s accession is given by Ebn Bābā Qāšānī in his Ketāb raʾs māl al-nadīm (Istanbul MS Turhan Valide 234, fol. 208b.) as 27 Šaʿbān 441/24 January 1…

a region of central Afghanistan, essentially the modern administrative province (welāyat) of Ḡōrāt. A version of this article is available in print Volume XI, Fascicle 4, pp. 399-400 ḠUR, a region of central Afghanistan, essentially the modern administrative province ( welāyat) of Ḡōrāt. Pre-modern Ḡur comprised the basins of the upper Harirud, the Farahrud, the Rud-e Ḡōr, and the Ḵašrud, together with the intervening mountain chains. The moun-tains rise to over 10,000 feet, increasing as they merge in the east into the Hindu Kush and Pa…

b. Būya b. Fanā-Ḵosrow, the eldest of three brothers who came to power in western Persia during the tenth century as military adventurers and founded the Buyid dynasty. A version of this article is available in print Volume VIII, Fascicle 4, pp. 376-377 EMĀD-AL-DAWLA, ABU’L-ḤASAN ʿALĪ b. Būya b. Fanā-Ḵosrow, the eldest of three brothers who came to power in western Persia as military adventurers and founded the Buyid dynasty (q.v.). ʿAlī ruled in Jebāl from 320/932 and in Fārs from 322/934 as head of the family. Their rise to power forms part …

(d. 250/864), early member of the Samanid family and governor of Farḡāna under the ʿAbbasids and Taherids. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 6, pp. 639 AḤMAD B. ASAD B. SĀMĀN ḴODĀ (d. 250/864), early member of the Samanid family and governor of Farḡāna under the ʿAbbasids and Taherids. Ca. 204/819-20 Aḥmad and his three brothers (Nūḥ, Yaḥyā, and Elyās) were made subordinate governors of various cities of the east by Ḡassān b. ʿAbbād, the caliph Maʾmūn’s governor of Khorasan, as a reward for their…

town in in the medieval Islamic province of Farḡāna, modern Russian Andizhan, in the easternmost part of the in the easternmost part of Uzbekistan. A version of this article is available in print Volume II, Fascicle 1, pp. 24-25 ANDEJĀN, town in the medieval Islamic province of Farḡāna, modern Russian Andizhan, in the easternmost part of the Uzbekistan SSR (latitude 40° 43’ north and longitude 72° 25’ east). It lies in the fertile valley of Farḡāna, below the upper reaches of the Jaxartes (Syr Darya). It was apparently of little impo…

(Ar. Janza), the Islamic name of a town in the early medieval Islamic province of Arrān (the classical Caucasian Albania, Armenian Alvankʿ). A version of this article is available in print Volume X, Fascicle 3, pp. 282-283 GANJA (Ar. Janza), the Islamic name of a town in the early medieval Islamic province of Arrān (the classical Caucasian Albania, Armenian Alvankʿ; see ARRĀN). In imperial Russian times, the town was called Elisavetpol after 1813; in Soviet times, when it came within the Azerbaijan SSR, it was first called Gandzha …

b. Fażl, a client (mawlā) and governor of Sīstān 815-19. A version of this article is available in print Volume VIII, Fascicle 1, pp. 43 EBN MORSAL, LAYṮ b. Fażl, a client ( mawlā) and governor of Sīstān 199-204/815-19. Previously governor of Egypt in 182-87/798-803 (Kendī, pp. 139-41), he was appointed governor of Sīstān by the caliph Maʾmūn in place of the discredited Moḥammad b. Ašʿaṯ. Facing stiff opposition from the outgoing governor and a local ʿayyār leader, he took up his post by making an alliance with the Kharijite leader Ḥamza b. Āḏarak. Once in contol in Zar…

(1854-1933), scholar in Persian, Arabic, and Spanish, specially notable for his work in the field of the historical geography of the pre-modern Middle Eastern and Eastern Islamic lands and his editing of Persian geographical texts. Le Strange’s chef d’ɶuvre is, however, undoubtedly The Lands of the Eastern Caliphate(1905). LE STRANGE, GUY (b. Hunstanton, Norfolk, 24 July 1854; d. Cambridge, 24 December 1933), scholar in Persian, Arabic, and Spanish, specially notable for his work in the field of the historical geography of the pre-modern Middl…

(“The correct usages of war and bravery”), a treatise in a straightforward Persian prose style in the “Mirror for Princes” genre, written by Faḵr-al-dīn Moḥammad b. Manṣūr Mobārakšāh, called Faḵr-e Modabber. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 4, pp. 445 ĀDĀB AL-ḤARB WA’L-ŠAJĀʿA (“The correct usages of war and bravery”), a treatise in a straightforward Persian prose style in the “Mirror for Princes” genre, written by Faḵr-al-dīn Moḥammad b. Manṣūr Mobārakšāh, called Faḵr-e Modabber. He flourished in the late 6th…

[I], BAHĀʾ-AL-DAWLA ABU’L-ḤASAN, Ghaznavid sultan, reigned briefly ca. 1048-49. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 8, pp. 852-853 ʿALĪ B. MASʿŪD I, BAHĀʾ-AL-DAWLA ABU’L-ḤASAN, Ghaznavid sultan, reigned ca. 440/1048-49. Masʿūd II b. Mawdūd and then ʿAlī b. Masʿūd I were the two ephemeral successors of Sultan Mawdūd b. Masʿūd I (r. 432-41/1041-50). Little is known about their reigns; many later sources do not even mention their existence. Our main knowledge of ʿAlī’s brief reign derives from Ebn Bābā Qāšānī’s 6th/12th century adab work, the Ketāb raʾs mā…

(Nehāvand), a town in western Iran, situated in the northern Zagros region. NEHĀVAND, a town in western Iran, situated in the northern Zagros region (lat 34˚11′ N, long 48˚22′ E, elev. 1,786 m/5,860 ft.). It lies some 90 km/50 miles south of Hamadan, from which it is separated by the massif of the Alvand Kuh, which rises to 3,572 m/11,716 feet, and from which streams provide Nehāvand and its agricultural hinterland with a plentiful water supply. Since Nehāvand lies on an historic route from central Iraq through Kermanshah (q.v.) to northern Iran, it has often been trave…

b. Vošmgīr, ẒAHĪR-AL-DAWLA, Ziyarid amir in Ṭabarestān and Gorgān (r. 967-78). Much of his reign was spent in fending off Samanid claims to sovereignty over the Caspian provinces. A version of this article is available in print Volume IV, Fascicle 3, pp. 305-306 BĪSOTŪN, ẒAHĪR-AL-DAWLA ABŪ MANṢŪR b. Vošmgīr, the Ziyarid amir in Ṭabarestān and Gorgān (r. 357-67/967-78, not 356-66 as in Zambaur, pp. 210-11). The date of his father Vošmgīr’s (q.v.) death in a hunting accident is given by Ebn Meskawayh, Tajāreb II, p. 233, tr., V, p. 247, as 1 Moḥarram 357/7 December 967, and his…

a town on the north bank of the middle course of the Araxes (Aras) river of eastern Transcaucasia, former in Persian territory but now in the Republic of Azerbaijan. ORDUBĀD, a town on the north bank of the middle course of the Araxes (Aras) river of eastern Transcaucasia, former in Persian territory but now in the Republic of Azerbaijan. It is some 94 km north-northwest of Tabriz and lies at an altitude of 948 m. The Turco-Persian name “army town” implies a foundation during the period of the Mongol invasions or the ensuing Il-Khanid one, especially as the Il-Khanids …

(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…

(d. 809), HĀRUN B. MOḤAMMAD B. ʿABD-ALLĀH, the fifth caliph of the ʿAbbasid dynasty (r. 786-809), the third son of the caliph al-Mahdi. A version of this article is available in print Volume XII, Fascicle 1, pp. 17-20 HĀRUN AL-RAŠID, HĀRUN B. MOḤAMMAD B. ʿABD-ALLĀH (d. Ṭus, 3 Jomādā II 193/24 March 809), the fifth caliph of the ʿAbbasid dynasty (r. 170-93/786-809), the third son of the caliph al-Mahdi and second son borne him by the slave concubine Ḵayzorān. He was born in Ray, either on 26 Ḏu’l-ḥejja 145/17 March 763 or 1 Moḥarram 1…

a town of central Persia on the present Yazd-Ardestān-Kāšān road along the southern edge of the Dašt-e Kavīr, forty miles northwest of Yazd. A version of this article is available in print Volume II, Fascicle 4, pp. 370-371 ARDAKĀN-e YAZD, a town of central Persia on the present Yazd-Ardestān-Kāšān road along the southern edge of the Dašt-e Kavīr, forty miles northwest of Yazd, in 32° 18’ north latitude and 53° 50’ east longitude, and an elevation of 3,280 feet above sea level. It is possible that Ardakān is the Artacana of Ptolemy ( Geography 6.5.4), described as a town of Parthia in t…

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…

a medieval Islamic town on the right bank of the lower Jaxartes in Central Asia some 350 km from where the river enters the Aral Sea. A version of this article is available in print Volume XIV, Fascicle 5, pp. 533 JAND, a medieval Islamic town on the right bank of the lower Jaxartes in Central Asia some 350 km from where the river enters the Aral Sea; hence the Aral often appears in geographical works as the “Sea of Jand.” The town is first mentioned by the geographers of the 10th century as an Oghuz (Ḡozz, q.v.) Turkish settlement. Nothing is known of its prior history. Sov…

a dynasty of medieval Islamic eastern Iran which ruled from 247/861 to 393/1003. From a base in their home province of Sistān, the first Saffarids built up a vast if transient military empire, at one point invading Iraq and threatening Baghdad. SAFFARIDS, a dynasty of medieval Islamic eastern Iran which ruled from 247/861 to 393/1003. From a base in their home province of Sistān, the first Saffarids built up a vast if transient military empire which at one point stretched from the borders of Afghanistan and India in the east to Fārs, A…

(472-546/1079-1151), local historian of Herat in the Saljuq period. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 4, pp. 350 ABŪ NAṢR FĀMĪ, ṮEQAT-AL-DĪN ʿABD-AL-RAḤMĀN B. ʿABD-AL-JABBĀR B. ʿOṮMĀN, 472-546/1079-1151, local historian of Herat in the Saljuq period. The scanty biographical information we possess derives only from Samʿānī [Leiden], fol. 418b) and from Ebn al-ʿEmād ( Šaḏarāt al-ḏahab, Cairo, 1350-51/1931-33, IV, p. 140). These authors describe him as pious and modest, a ḥāfeẓ, traditionist, and copyist of sacred texts, from whom many scho…

(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…

(or ʿAlī b. ʿOṯmān b. Ḥarb), ephemeral Saffarid amir of the so-called “third Saffarid dynasty”. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 8, pp. 849 ʿALĪ B. ḤARB (or ʿAlī b. ʿOṯmān b. Ḥarb), ephemeral Saffarid amir of the so-called “third Saffarid dynasty” (described in the sources as the “ molūk of Nīmrūz”); reigned briefly and died in 622/1225. In the early 7th/13th century, Sīstān, along with all the eastern Islamic lands, seems to have fallen into disorder with the irruption of the Mongols in 614/1217 and after. An addit…

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…

B. MANŪČEHR B. QĀBŪS, ruler of the Daylamī dynasty of the Ziyarids in Ṭabarestān and Gorgān during the early 11th century. A version of this article is available in print Volume II, Fascicle 2, pp. 139-140 ANŪŠERVĀN B. MANŪČEHR B. QĀBŪS, ruler of the Daylamī dynasty of the Ziyarids in Ṭabarestān and Gorgān during the early 5th/11th century. He was the grandson of the celebrated amir and prose stylist, Šams-al-Maʿālī Qābūs b. Vošmgīr, and his father, Manūčehr, was the son-in-law of Maḥmūd of Ḡazna. Toward the end of Manūčehr’s reig…

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 …

vizier of the Ghaznavids in the 5th/11th century. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 4, pp. 370 ABŪ SAHL ḴOJANDĪ, vizier of the Ghaznavids in the 5th/11th century. He served Sultan Ebrāhīm b. Masʿūd (451-92/1059-99) as that ruler’s second vizier, succeeding Abū Bakr b. Abī Ṣāleḥ, probably in the early part of the reign. All that is known of his background is that he had been secretary in the Ghaznavid dīvāns since the time of Sultan Masʿūd. At some unspecified date he fell from favor and was arrested and blinded at the sultan’s orders. C. Edmund Bosworth Bibliograp…

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…

city on the desert fringes of southwestern Mesopotamia; known in pre-Islamic times as the capital of the Lakhmid Arab dynasty, clients of the Sasanians, it survived as an urban settlement into the early centuries of the Islamic period. A version of this article is available in print Volume XII, Fascicle 3, pp. 322-323 ḤIRA, a city on the desert fringes of southwestern Mesopotamia; known in pre-Islamic times as the capital of the Lakhmid Arab dynasty, clients of the Sasanians. It survived as an urban settlement into the early centuries of the Islamic period. Figure 1. The region of Ḥira …

first vizier for the Ghaznavid sultan Maḥmūd (r. 388-421/998-1030). A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 3, pp. 303-304 ABU’L- ḤASAN ʿALĪ B. FAŻL B. AḤMAD ESFARĀʾĪNĪ, first vizier for the Ghaznavid sultan Maḥmūd (r. 388-421/998-1030). He began his career as a secretary in Khorasan in the entourage of the ambitious Turkish general of the Samanids, ʿAmīd-al-dawla Fāʾeq Ḵāṣṣa, and was probably a native of the town of Esfarāʾīn in northwest Khorasan. When the bid for control of Khorasan by Fāʾeq and …

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 …

Ghurid malek and later sultan, reigned in Ḡūr from Fīrūzkūh as the last of his family there before the extinction of the dynasty by the Ḵᵛārazmšāhs, 599-602/1203-96 and 611-12/1214-15. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 7, pp. 777 ʿALĀʾ-AL- DĪN (or ŻĪĀʾ-AL-DĪN) ʿALĪ B. ŠOJĀʿ-AL-DĪN ʿALĪ, Ghurid malek and later sultan, reigned in Ḡūr from Fīrūzkūh as the last of his family there before the extinction of the dynasty by the Ḵᵛārazmšāhs, 599-602/1203-96 and 611-12/1214-15. As Malek Żīāʾ-al-dīn, and also bearing the titl…

ABU’L-ḤASAN, second Ḵᵛārazmšāh of the short-lived Maʾmunid dynasty in Ḵᵛārazm (r. 997-ca. 1008-09). A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 8, pp. 852 ʿALĪ B. MAʾMŪN, ABU’L-ḤASAN, second Ḵᵛārazmšāh of the short-lived Maʾmunid dynasty in Ḵᵛārazm (reigned 387-ca. 399/997-ca. 1008-9). He was married to Maḥmūd of Ḡazna’s sister Kah-Kālǰī (ʿOtbī, al-Taʾrīḵ al-Yamīnī, with commentary of Shaikh Manīnī, Cairo, 1286/1869, II, p. 151), and the latter was, after his death, taken over by his brother and successor Abu’l-ʿAbbās Maʾmūn in…

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…

Ghaznavid vizier of the early 6th/12th century. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 3, pp. 287 ABU’L- FATḤ YŪSOF B. YAʿQŪB, ŠAMS-AL-WOZARĀʾ QOṬB-AL-DĪN NEẒĀM-AL-MOLK, Ghaznavid vizier of the early 6th/12th century. The dates of his birth and death are unknown; the biographical works on viziers by Nāṣer-al-dīn Kermānī, Sayf-al-dīn Fażlī, and others stop short at the viziers of the later Ghaznavids. It is possible that he was a brother of the Abu’l-ʿAlāʾ b. Yaʿqūb Nākūk (q.v.) who had serve…

in Arabic, the plural of jabal “mountain,” a geographical term used in early Islamic times for the western part of Persia, roughly corresponding to ancient Media (Ar. māh). A version of this article is available in print Volume XIV, Fascicle 6, pp. 617-618 JEBĀL, in Arabic, the plural of jabal “mountain,” a geographical term used in early Islamic times for the western part of Persia, roughly corresponding to ancient Media (Ar. māh, see below). It received its name from its mountain and upland plateau topography, embracing as it did the central part of the Zāgros mount…

the third dynasty of caliphs who built their capital in Baghdad after overthrowing the Umayyad caliphs in Damascus. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 1, pp. 89-95 ʿABBASID CALIPHATE in Iran. The aim of the present article is not to give a chronological history of Persia under ʿAbbasid rule but to examine some of the main trends affecting the political, religious, and cultural development of Persia during the period when ʿAbbasid rule was effective there—essentially from the middle of the 2nd/8th century to the opening decades of the 4th/10th century. The es…

(also Mokrān) the coastal region of Baluchistan, extending from the Somniani Bay to the northwest of Karachi in the east westwards to the fringes of the region of Bashkardia/Bāšgerd in the southern part of the Sistān and Balučestān province of modern Iran. MAKRĀN (also Mokrān) the coastal region of Baluchistan, extending from the Somniani Bay to the northwest of Karachi in the east westwards to the fringes of the region of Bashkardia/Bāšgerd in the southern part of the Sistān and Balučestān province of modern Iran. Makrān is thus bisect…

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…

(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…

a small town in Fārs on the northeastern fringes of the Zagros mountain massif. A version of this article is available in print Volume II, Fascicle 5, pp. 546-547 ARSANJĀN, a small town in Fārs on the northeastern fringes of the Zagros mountain massif. It is situated 30 miles to the east of Persepolis and 55 miles northeast of Shiraz; to its southeast lies Lake Nīrīz. There do not seem to be any mentions of Arsanǰān in the older classical Arabic and Persian geographers, although Ḥamdallāh Mostawfī mentions villages in the r…

vizier to the Ghaznavid sultans Mawdud b. Masʿud and ʿAbd-al-Rašid b. Maḥmud, remaining in official service under the latter’s successor Farroḵzād b. Masʿud. ʿABD-AL- RAZZĀQ b. AḤMAD b. ḤASAN MEYMANDI, vizier to the Ghaznavid sultans Mawdud b. Masʿud and ʿAbd-al-Rašid b. Maḥmud, remaining in official service under the latter’s successor Farroḵzād b. Masʿud. He was the son of the celebrated vizier of Sultan Maḥmud of Ghazna (see Aḥmad b. Ḥasan Maymandi). His birth date is unknown but he may have been closely associated with his father in official d…

name of a region in early Islamic times, situated to the north of the upper Harīrūd and the Paropamisus range and on the head waters of the Moṟḡāb. A version of this article is available in print Volume X, Fascicle 3, pp. 292 ḠARČESTĀN, name of a region in early Islamic times, situated to the north of the upper Harīrūd and the Paropamisus range and on the head waters of the Moṟḡāb. To its west was Bāḏḡīs and to its northeast Gūzgān. Ḡarčestān thus corresponds to the region known at present as Fīrūzkūh and forms part of the province of Bādḡīs in contemporary Afghanistan. The term ḡarča perhaps reflec…

the administrative center of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic (NAR) with its own elected representative assembly, within the Republic of Azerbaijan but separated from it by Armenia. NAḴJAVĀN, present-day Nakhchivan (lat 39°12′ N, long 45°24′ E), the administrative center of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic (NAR) with its own elected representative assembly, within the Republic of Azerbaijan but separated from it by Armenia. The region covers 5,363 square miles and has a total population of 398,000, in which Nakhchivan city’s population is 71,200 (2009 figures). The city li…

a local dynasty of Kurdish origin which ruled in the Zagros mountains region of southwestern Persia, essentially in Lorestān and the adjacent parts of Fārs, and which flourished in the later Saljuq, Il-khanid, Mozaffarid, and Timurid periods. A version of this article is available in print Volume XII, Fascicle 1, pp. 93 HAZĀRASPIDS, a local dynasty of Kurdish origin which ruled in the Zagros mountains region of southwestern Persia, essentially in Lorestān and the adjacent parts of Fārs, and which flourished in the later Saljuq, Ilkhanid, Mozaffar…

a landowner ( dehqān) of Transoxania (12th century). A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 2, pp. 210 ʿĀBEDĪ, ABU’L-RAJĀʾ AḤMAD B. ʿABD-AL-ṢAMAD, a landowner ( dehqān) of Transoxania. At Samarqand in 504/1110-11 (during the reign of the Qarakhanid Arslān Khan Moḥammad b. Solaymān, son-in-law of the Saljuq Sultan Sanǰar), he related to Neẓāmī ʿArūżī how the poet Rūdakī had been rewarded by the Samanid Naṣr b. Aḥmad (250-79/864-92) for a poem praising the amir and Bokhara, his capital. ʿĀbedī had transmitted the story from his grandfather (of the same name). C. E…

(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 …

(d. 433/1041), Daylamī military leader and founder of the shortlived but significant Kakuyid dynasty. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 7, pp. 773-774 ʿALĀʾ-AL- DAWLA ABŪ JAʿFAR MOḤAMMAD B. ROSTAM DOŠMANZĪĀR B. MARZOBĀN (d. 433/1041), Daylamī military leader and founder of the shortlived but significant Kakuyid dynasty, which existed independently in Jebāl and then survived subsequently, under Saljuq aegis, in Abarqūh and Yazd. The sources frequently accord him the name of Ebn Kākūya or Pesar-e …

the official in medieval eastern Islamic states who had charge of the administrative side of the military forces, being especially concerned with payment, recruitment, training, and inspection. A version of this article is available in print Volume II, Fascicle 4, pp. 393-394 ʿĀREŻ (Arabic ʿĀriḍ, from the verb ʿ araḍa, also iʿtaraḍa, istaʿraḍa, “to lay open to view,” i.e., for inspection), the official in medieval eastern Islamic states who had charge of the administrative side of the military forces, being especially concerned with payment, recr…

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…

Turkish military slave commander of the Samanids and founder of Turkish power in eastern Afghanistan (d. 352/963). A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 9, pp. 898 ALPTIGIN (Tk., “hero prince”), Turkish military slave commander of the Samanids and founder of Turkish power in eastern Afghanistan (d. 352/963). Apparently brought as a slave from the Central Asian steppes, Alptigin rose in the hierarchy of the Samanid army until he became head of the royal guard (ḥāǰeb al-ḥoǰǰāb) under Amir Nūḥ b. Naṣr (331-43/943-54). Under the latter’s successor ʿA…

a rural area ( rostāq) of medieval Khorasan, between the district of Nīšāpūr and the eastern borders of Qūmes, and its town, also known as Sabzavār. A version of this article is available in print Volume III, Fascicle 8, pp. 888-889 BAYHAQ, a town of Khorasan in the Islamic period, also known as Sabzavār. Bayhaq is properly the name of a rural area ( rostāq) lying between the district of Nīšāpūr (Neyšābūr) and the eastern borders of Qūmes, of which Sabzavār and Ḵosrowjerd, separated by two farsaḵs only, were the main urban centers. The early geographers are sparing in their descr…

b. ʿAlī, twice vizier to the Saljuq sultan Barkīāroq (1094-1105). A version of this article is available in print Volume VII, Fascicle 2, pp. 216 DEHESTĀNĪ , AʿAZZ-AL-MOLKNEẒĀM-AL-DĪN ABU’L-MAḤĀSEN ʿABD-AL-JALĪL b. ʿAlī, twice vizier to the Saljuq sultan Barkīāroq (487-98/1094-1105). In Rabīʿ I 493/January-February 1100, after Barkīāroq succeeded in taking control of Baghdad, he appointed Dehestānī vizier with the honorific Neẓām-al-Dīn. Slightly later, however, Barkīāroq was defeated at Espīḏrūḏ near Hamadān by his brother Moḥammad b…

governor of Ḡazna in eastern Afghanistan on behalf of the Samanids (352/963-355/966). A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 3, pp. 272-273 ABŪ ESḤĀQ EBRĀHĪM B. ALPTIGIN (named in some sources, e.g., Ebn Bābā, as Esḥāq b. Alptigin), governor of Ḡazna in eastern Afghanistan on behalf of the Samanids, Šaʿbān, 352 to Ḏu’l-qaʿda, 355/September, 963 to November, 966. Abū Esḥāq Ebrāhīm’s father Alptigin had been commander-in-chief of the Samanid army in Bokhara; compelled in 350/961 to withdraw from th…

a title of high-born women in the pre-modern Turkish and Persian worlds. A version of this article is available in print Volume XVI, Fascicle 2, pp. 129-130 ḴĀTUN, a title of high-born women in the pre-modern Turkish and Persian worlds. Although the title is first attested in Orkhon Turkish, where qatun/ ḵatun in the Kül-tegin and Bilge-qaghan inscriptions denotes “wife of the khan or ruler, queen” (Tekin, pp. 342-43; Kāšḡari, tr. Atalay I, p. 410; tr. Dankoff and Kelly I, p. 311), the word is almost certainly of Sogdian origin ( xwtʾy “lord, ruler,” xwt’yn “lord’s wife”; Clauson, p. 602…

conventional name for an otherwise unknown author of Fārs-nāma, a local history and geography of the province of Fārs written in Persian during the Saljuq period. A version of this article is available in print Volume VIII, Fascicle 1, pp. 4 EBN AL-BALḴĪ, conventional name for an otherwise unknown author of Fārs-nāma, a local history and geography of the province of Fārs written in Persian during the Saljuq period, so-called because his ancestors came from Balḵ in eastern Khorasan ( Balḵī-nežād, p. 3; the form “Ebn al-Balḵī” is used in Kašf al-ẓonūn, ed. Flügel, IV, p. 344, no. 8681).…

a small upland town of the ostān of Fārs. A version of this article is available in print Volume II, Fascicle 4, pp. 370 ARDAKĀN-E FĀRS, a small upland town of the ostān of Fārs (hence to be distinguished from the Ardakān-e Yazd), lying in 30° 16’ north latitude and 51° 59’ east longitude and situated at an altitude of 7,257 ft/2,212 m. It is thus within the southern Zagros region, one of high valleys and steep mountain ranges, connected now by a road to the provincial capital Shiraz, 60 miles/96 km to the southeast. To the no…

b. ʿOmar (d. after 903), Persian author of a geographical compendium. A version of this article is available in print Volume VIII, Fascicle 1, pp. 49-50 EBN ROSTA, ABŪ ʿALĪ AḤMAD b.ʿOmar (d. after 290/903), Persian author of a geographical compendium. He was from Isfahan, where the name Rosta is attested in this period (Ebn Rosta, I, p. 151; Abū Noʿaym Eṣfahānī, pp. 162, 316), and it was probably there that the book was written. He himself mentions in his book that he had been in Medina—apparently his only significant journe…

author of a general history in Persian valuable as a first-hand source for the history of the Ghurids, the Šamsi Delhi Sultans, and the irruption of the Mongols into the eastern Islamic lands. MENHĀJ-e SERĀJ, Menhāj-al-Din Abu ʿAmr ʿOṯmān b. Serāj-al-Din Moḥammad Jowzjāni, qāżi, author of a general history in Persian valuable as a first-hand source for the history of the Ghurids, the Šamsi Delhi Sultans, and the irruption of the Mongols into the eastern Islamic lands (see Ṭabaqāt-e Nāṣeri). Everything known about him and his career stems from mentions in his own history. He…

Their rise is connected with the growth of the commercial center of Gorgānǰ in northwest Ḵᵛārazm and its rivalry with the capital of the Afrighids, Kāt or Kāṯ, on the right bank of the Oxus. Gorgānǰ flourished especially because of its position as the terminus for caravan trade across the Ust Urt desert to the Emba. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 7, pp. 762-764 ĀL-E MAʾMŪN (or Maʾmunids), a short-lived dynasty of independent Iranian rulers in Ḵᵛārazm, 385-408/995-1017; they replaced the ancient line of Afrighid Ḵᵛārazmšāhs, but we…

the penultimate ruler of the Samanid dynasty in Khorasan and Transoxania, r. 389/999. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 2, pp. 127-128 ʿABD-AL -MALEK B. NŪḤ B. MANṢŪR, ABU’L-FAVĀRES, the penultimate ruler of the Samanid dynasty in Khorasan and Transoxania, r. 389/999. In the decade of the 380s/990s, the Samanid amirate was being subverted internally by the rivalries of ambitious Turkish military commanders and was attacked externally after 382/992 by the Qarakhanid Turkish ruler from beyond th…

the holder of an administrative office in the pre-modern Islamic world. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 9, pp. 930-931 ʿĀMEL, the holder of an administrative office in the pre-modern Islamic world. In earliest Islam, the Arabic term ʿāmel was one which denoted, at its most general, a provincial governor; hence it was correlative with such designations as amīr and walī. The basic sense of “agent, person involved in some activity” is clearly discernible here, and this general sense persisted in administrative usage well into ʿAbbasid times. But ʿāmel also…

vizier of the last two Great Saljuq sultans in western Persia. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 2, pp. 217 ABHARĪ, ḴᵛĀJA KAMĀL-AL -DĪN ABŪ ʿAmr, vizier of the last two Great Saljuq sultans in western Persia, Arslan b. Ṭoḡ rı l II (556-71/1161-76) and his son Ṭoḡrıl III (579-90/1176-94). After a secretarial career, he first became minister to Arslan. When Ṭoḡrıl III became restive under the tutelage of the Eldiguzid atabegs of Azerbaijan and endeavored to escape from them, he ended up by bei…

known as Kolah (said to be an opprobrious term), secretary and official in northern Persia and Transoxania during the 4th/10th century. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 9, pp. 937 ʿAMĪD, ABŪ ʿABDALLĀH AL-ḤOSAYN B. MOḤAMMAD, known as Kolah (said to be an opprobrious term), secretary and official in northern Persia and Transoxania during the 4th/10th century, and father of Abu’l-Fażl Moḥammad b. ʿAmīd, the celebrated vizier of the Buyid amir Rokn-al-dawla. He was allegedly of lowly birth, originally a hawker in the wheat-merchants’ market in Qom, or a ḥammā…

B. ʿABD-ALLAH SAḤEBI KIRANI, author of a Persian history Tajāreb al-salaf (fl. first half of the 8th/14th century). A version of this article is available in print Volume XII, Fascicle 2, pp. 181-182 HENDUŠĀH B. SANJAR B. ʿABD-ALLAH SAḤEBI KIRANI, the little-known author of a Persian history called the Tajāreb al-salaf (fl. first half of the 8th/14th century). Virtually nothing is known of his life or when he was born and died. Browne (1924, p. 246 n. 1) thought that the nesba Ṣāḥebi meant that he was in the entourage of some leading political figure of the time and that Kir…

[KAKWAYHIDS], a dynasty of Deylamite origin that ruled in western Persia, Jebāl, and Kurdistan about 1008-51 as independent princes. A version of this article is available in print Volume XV, Fascicle 4, pp. 359-362 KĀKUYIDS (KAKWAYHIDS), a dynasty of Deylamite origin that ruled in western Persia, in Jebāl and Kurdistan about 1008-51 as independent princes, and thereafter locally as feudatories of the Great Saljuqs until the mid-12th century. They represent one of the hitherto submerged local powers of this region, Deylamite and…

Arabic-Persian term used to denote proclamations and letters announcing victories in battle or the successful conclusion of military campaigns. A version of this article is available in print Volume IX, Fascicle 4, pp. 422-423 FATḤ-NĀMA, Arabic-Persian term used to denote proclamations and letters announcing victories in battle or the successful conclusion of military campaigns. They might be composed on the actual battle field by one of the ruler’s secretaries or put together later in the ruler’s chancery. These last tended to …

or Naṣr or Ḥosayn; commander of ʿayyārs or moṭawweʿa, orthodox Sunni vigilantes against the Kharijites in Sīstān during the period immediately preceding the rise of the Saffarid brothers to supreme power there. A version of this article is available in print Volume VII, Fascicle 3, pp. 320 DERHAM B. NAŻR (or Naṣr or Ḥosayn), commander of ʿayyārs or moṭawweʿa, orthodox Sunni vigilantes against the Kharijites in Sīstān during the period immediately preceding the rise of the Saffarid brothers to supreme power there. Derham was chosen by the Sunni forces in the field to succeed the ʿayyār lea…

(occasionally vocalized Daynavar), in the first centuries of Islam an important town in Jebāl, now ruined. A version of this article is available in print Volume VII, Fascicle 4, pp. 416-417 DĪNAVAR (occasionally vocalized Daynavar), in the first centuries of Islam an important town in Jebāl, now ruined. Its site lies northeast of modern Kermānšāh, at 34° 35’ N, 47° 26’ E, on an upland plain (elev. 1,600 m) traversed by what the medieval traveler Abū Dolaf called the river of Dīnavar (p. 49, comm. pp. 93, 97). Dīnavar was an important fortified point of the Sasanian empire, to whic…

a town of medieval Islamic Fārs (modern Tall-e Bayżā), 25 miles north of Shiraz, 8 farsaḵs according to the medieval geographers and one stage east of the Sasanian and early Islamic town of Eṣṭaḵr. A version of this article is available in print Volume IV, Fascicle 1, pp. 14-15 BAYŻĀ, a town of medieval Islamic Fārs, the modern village of Tall-e Bayżā. The name stems from Arabic bayżā “white,” the name of several places in the medieval Islamic world (Yāqūt, Moʿjam al-boldān, Beirut, I, pp. 529-31, names no fewer than 16) from Sind and Iran to Sicily and the Maghrib, a noun l…

ABU’L-ḤASAN or ABŪ BAKR AḤMAD B. YAḤYĀ B. JĀBER, leading Arab historian of the 9th century, whose Ketāb fotūḥ al-boldān, in particular, contains much original information on the Arab conquests of Iran. A version of this article is available in print Volume III, Fascicle 6, pp. 570-571 BALĀḎORĪ, ABU’L-ḤASAN or ABŪ BAKR AḤMAD B. YAḤYĀ B. JĀBER, leading Arab historian of the 3rd/9th century, whose Ketāb fotūḥ al-boldān, in particular, contains much original and indispensable information on the Arab conquests of Iran. Life. The exact details of Balāḏorī’s life are shadowy, but he…

a town of the medieval Islamic province of Ahvāz (Ḵūzestān) and also the name of the district of which it was the administrative center. A version of this article is available in print Volume II, Fascicle 7, pp. 768 ʿASKAR MOKRAM (lit. Mokram’s encampment), a town of the medieval Islamic province of Ahvāz (Ḵūzestān) and also the name of the district of which it was the administrative center. The Arabic sources give various tales concerning the origin of the name. According to Balāḏorī, Fotūḥ p. 383, it was named after Moḥammad b. Moṭarref (al-Bāhelī?), a commander of Moṣʿab b.…

the last Ḵᵛārazmšāh of the line of Anuštigin Ḡarčaʾi, reigned in 1220-31 as the eldest son and successor of ʿAlāʾ-al-Din Moḥammad. A version of this article is available in print Volume XIV, Fascicle 4, pp. 404-405 JALĀL-AL-DIN ḴᵛĀRAZMŠĀH (I) MENGÜBIRNI, the last Ḵᵛārazmšāh of the line of Anuštigin Ḡarčaʾi, reigned in 1220-31 as the eldest son and successor of ʿAlāʾ-al-Din Moḥammad. His Turkish personal name remains enigmatic, as no more satisfactory interpretation of the Arabic consonant ductus MNKBRNY has been seriously suggested than mengü birti (‘the Heavens [i.e., God] gav…

(849-907), the first member of the Samanid dynasty to rule over all Transoxania and Farḡāna. A version of this article is available in print Volume VIII, Fascicle 6, pp. 636-637 ESMĀʿĪL, b. Aḥmad b. Asad SĀMĀNĪ, ABŪ EBRĀHĪM (b. 234/849, d. Ṣafar 295/November 907), the first member of the Samanid dynasty to rule over all Transoxania and Farḡāna. He served almost two decades (260-79/874-92) as governor of Bukhara (q.v. ii) on behalf of his brother Naṣr, ʿAbbasid governor of Transoxania, who resided at Samarqand. In Khorasan and Trans…

B. MOḤAMMAD, 10th-century Arabic littérateur, author of a work of adab. A version of this article is available in print Volume III, Fascicle 8, pp. 895 BAYHAQĪ, EBRĀHĪM B. MOḤAMMAD, Arabic littérateur, known solely through his one book, the Ketāb al-maḥāsen wa’l-masāwī. Nothing is known of him except for what can be gleaned from this, though his forebears presumably had some connection with Bayhaq in Khorasan; he apparently wrote in the caliphate of al-Moqtader (295-320/909-12), and Brockelmann surmised that he may have belonged to the circle of Ebn al-Moʿtazz (d. 296/908; GAL, S. I, …

early 13th century military commander of the Ghurids, and connected, according to Jūzjānī, with the district of Gorzevān on the headwaters of the Morḡāb in the province of Gūzgān in northern Afghanistan. A version of this article is available in print Volume VIII, Fascicle 1, pp. 37 EBN ḴARMĪL, military commander of the Ghurids, and connected, according to Jūzjānī, with the district of Gorzevān on the headwaters of the Morḡāb in the province of Gūzgān in northern Afghanistan. He is first heard of as a prominent commander of the Ghurid raids into India. He was made governo…

a small settlement on the north bank of the Harirud and to the south of the Paropamisus range in northwestern Afghanistan, lying approximately 100 miles upstream from Herat in the easternmost part of the modern Herat welāyat or province. A version of this article is available in print Volume V, Fascicle 3, pp. 333 CEŠT, a small settlement on the north bank of the Harirud and to the south of the Paropamisus range in northwestern Afghanistan, lying approximately 100 miles upstream from Herat in the easternmost part of the modern Herat welāyat or province. The present form of its name is…

or Yenāl (d. 1059), early Saljuq leader. A version of this article is available in print Volume VIII, Fascicle 1, pp. 66 EBRĀHĪM ĪNĀL (or Yenāl; d. 451/1059), early Saljuq leader. The name Īnāl/Yenāl comes originally from an old Turkish title already attested in the early 4th/10th century by the traveler Aḥmad b. Fażlān, confirmed by Moḥammad Ḵᵛārazmī’s mention (p. 120) of yenāl-tigin as a title of the Oḡuz (Bosworth and Clauson, pp. 6, 10-11; Doerfer, Elemente IV, pp. 196-99). Ebrāhīm Īnāl is described as a uterine half-brother of Ṭoḡrel and Čaḡrī Beg, but his father m…

wife of the Atābeg Jahān-Pahlavān Moḥammad (r. 1175-86), the Eldigüzid (or Ildegizid) ruler in Arrān, most of Azerbaijan, and then Jebāl. A version of this article is available in print Volume XIII, Fascicle 1, pp. 3 ÏNĀNČ ḴĀTUN (Inānj Ḵātun), wife of the Atābeg Noṣrat-al-Din Jahān-Pahlavān Moḥammad b. Šams-al-Din Eldigüz (r. 571-82/1175-86), the Eldigüzid or Ildegizid ruler in Arrān, most of Azerbaijan, and then Jebāl. She was the daughter of the powerful Turkish governor of Ray, nominally for the later Saljuqs, Ḥosām-al-Din Ïnānč…

eldest son of the Kakuyid amir of Jebāl, ʿAlāʾ-al-dawla Moḥammad b. Došmanzīār. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 3, pp. 335-336 ABŪ MANṢŪR FARĀMARZ, ẒAHĪR-AL-DĪN ŠAMS-AL-MOLK, eldest son of the Kakuyid amir of Jebāl, ʿAlāʾ-al-dawla Moḥammad b. Došmanzīār. He reigned in Isfahan, 433-43/1041-51, and died at some unknown date after 455/1063. He may thus be considered as the second independent ruler of the Kakuyid dynasty, whose original fortunes had been made as commanders under the Buyids and…

(511-34/1117-40), ruler of the Espahbadīya line of the local dynasty of the Bavandids in the Caspian region of Māzandarān. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 7, pp. 772 ʿALĀʾ-AL- DAWLA ʿALĪ B. ḤOSĀM-AL-DAWLA ŠAHRĪĀR B. QĀREN (511-34/1117-40), ruler of the Espahbadīya line of the local dynasty of the Bavandids (see Āl-e Bāvand) in the Caspian region of Māzandarān. Under his rule, the dynasty achieved an importance transcending the local Caspian scene, for at various times the weakness of the Great Sa…

name of several towns in medieval sources, including the modern city. A version of this article is available in print Volume II, Fascicle 7, pp. 697-698 ASADĀBĀD (Asadābāḏ and Asadāvād in medieval Islamic sources). 1. A town in the medieval Islamic province of Jebāl, now in the ostān of Kermānšāhān (Bāḵtarān) of modern Iran. It is situated at an altitude of 5,575 ft/1,699 m, some 33.5 miles/54 km west-southwest of Hamadān on the historic Baghdad-Hamadān-Ray or Tehran highway, separated from Hamadān itself by a pass over the intervening Kūh-e…

a town in the medieval Islamic province of Mūḡān, the area southwest of the Caspian Sea and south of the Kor (Kura) and Aras (Araxes) rivers. A version of this article is available in print Volume III, Fascicle 5, pp. 533 BĀJARVĀN, a town in the medieval Islamic province of Mūḡān (q.v.), i.e., the area southwest of the Caspian Sea and south of the Kor (Kura) and Aras (Araxes; qq.v.) rivers. Its site is unknown, but it must have lain in what is now the extreme northeastern tip of the modern Iranian province of Azerbaijan, to the south o…

or Dawraq al-Fors; name of a district (kūra), also known as Sorraq, and of a town that was sometimes its chef-lieu in medieval Islamic times. A version of this article is available in print Volume VII, Fascicle 2, pp. 159 DAWRAQ (or Dawraq al-Fors), name of a district ( kūra; Moqaddasī, pp. 406-7), also known as Sorraq, and of a town that was sometimes its chef-lieu in medieval Islamic times. The town lay 78 km southeast of Ahvāz; its modern successor is Šādagān, situated 30° 40’ N, 48° 40’ E. According to early geographers, Dawraq was a fine and prosperous town, through which pilgri…

There were at least three raids by the early Ghaznavids into Ḡūr, led by Sultan Maḥmūd and his son Masʿūd, in the first decades of the 11th century; these introduced Islam and brought Ḡūr into a state of loose vassalage to the sultans. A version of this article is available in print Volume X, Fascicle 6, pp. 586-590 GHURIDS (or Āl-e Šansab), a medieval Islamic dynasty of the eastern Iranian lands. They began as local chiefs in Ḡūr (q.v.) in the heartland of what is now Afghanistan, but became a major power from the mid-12th century until the opening ye…

called Naṣir-al-Dawla and Nāṣeḥ "Counselor,” vizier of the Buyids in Iraq, b. 314/926, d. 367/978. EBN BAQIYA,MOḤAMMAD b. MOḤAMMAD b. BAQIYA, ABU ṬĀHER, called Naṣir-al-Dawla and Nāṣeḥ "Counselor,” vizier of the Buyids in Iraq, b. 314/926, d. 367/978. He was born at ʿAwāna to the north of Baghdad of peasant stock; later in his career, detractors would accuse him of promoting base men to high positions. He is first heard of farming the tolls over the Tigris crossings at Takrit, and when the Buyid Moʿezz-al-Dawla Aḥmad b. Buya seized …

(or ANBĪR), a town of the medieval Islamic province of Gūzgān or Jūzǰān in northern Afghanistan, probably to be identified with the modern Sar-e Pol. A version of this article is available in print Volume II, Fascicle 1, pp. 6 ANBĀ R or ANBĪR, a town of the medieval Islamic province of Gūzgān or Jūzǰān in northern Afghanistan, probably to be identified with the modern Sar-e Pol. The variable spelling of the sources (in Yāqūt, I, pp. 257, 259, there are separate entries for each of the two forms) doubtless reflects a contemporary pronun…