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(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…

(or ASFŌZAR), designation of a district (kūra) and later its chief town in the Herat quarter of Khorasan. A version of this article is available in print Volume II, Fascicle 7, pp. 748 ASFEZĀR (or ASFŌZAR), designation of a district ( kūra) and later its chief town in the Herat quarter of Khorasan. The town was more recently known as Sabzavār of Herat (to distinguish it from the Sabzavār of Khorasan near Nīšāpūr, medieval Bayhaq), and at the present time is called Šīndand. Since the administrative re-organization of 1964, it has fallen within the welāyat or provinces of Farāh. The town l…

ABŪ MŪSĀ HĀRŪN, the first Qarakhanid khan to invade the Samanid emirate from the steppes to the north in the 990s. A version of this article is available in print Volume IV, Fascicle 3, pp. 318-319 BOḠRĀ KHAN, ABŪ MŪSĀ HĀRŪN or Ḥasan b. Solaymān, called Šehāb-al-Dawla and Ẓahīr-al-Daʿwa, the first Qarakhanid khan to invade the Samanid emirate from the steppes to the north and to deal a severe blow at its fabric. He was the grandson of ʿAbd-al-Karīm Satūq Boḡrā Khan (d. 344/955), the first Qarakhanid to become a Muslim. In 380/990 Boḡrā Khan Hārūn occupied Esfījāb, an…

B. AḤMAD (I) B. ESMĀʿIL, Amir-e Saʿid “The Fortunate Amir,” a title he was given after his death, ruler of the Samanid dynasty (q.v.) in Transoxiana and Khorasan between 301/914 and 331/943. NAṢR (I) B. AḤMAD (I) B. ESMĀʿIL, Amir-e Saʿid “The Fortunate Amir,” a title he was given after his death, ruler of the Samanid dynasty (q.v.) in Transoxiana and Khorasan between 301/914 and 331/943. The reign of his father Aḥmad (295-301/907-14), called Amir-e Šahid “the Martyr Amir,” was brought to a quick and sudden end when he was murdered by his own ḡolāms; some sources say that these slave troo…

secretary and poet of the Ghaznavid period, d. 491/1098. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 3, pp. 252 ABU’L- ʿALĀʾ ʿAṬĀʾ, called NĀKŪK, secretary and poet of the Ghaznavid period, d. 491/1098. Little is known of his life, but ʿAwfī, in a biographical notice in his Lobāb al-albāb, gives him the title of ʿamīd and kāteb. It seems that he filled high office under the Ghaznavid sultan Ebrāhīm b. Masʿūd (450-92/1059-99). It is probable that he had some connection with the chief secretary, Abū Sahl Zūzanī (a contemporary of the …

Turkish slave commander of the Saljuqs; in the late 11th century, he bore the traditional title of Ḵᵛārazmšāh. A version of this article is available in print Volume II, Fascicle 2, pp. 140 ANŪŠTIGIN ḠARČAʾĪ, Turkish slave commander of the Saljuqs; in the late 5th/11th century, under Sultans Malekšāh and Berkyaruq (Barkīāroq), he bore the traditional title of Ḵᵛārazmšāh. Ḵᵛārazm had passed into Saljuq hands with the flight of the son of the Oḡuz Yabḡū Šāh Malek of Jand in 433/1042 and had subsequently become an important base fo…

(ṬOVARĀN), the mediaeval Islamic name for the mountainous district of east-central Baluchistan lying to the north of the mediaeval coastal region of Makrān, what was in recent centuries, until 1947, the Aḥmadzay Khanate of Kalat. ṬURĀN (ṬOVARĀN), the mediaeval Islamic name for the mountainous district of east-central Baluchistan lying to the north of the mediaeval coastal region of Makrān, what was in recent centuries, until 1947, the Aḥmadzay Khanate of Kalat (see BALUCHISTAN i. Geography, History, and Ethnography, sec. 7-8). To…

a small oasis town of central Iran (altitude 1,004 m) on the southern fringe of the Dašt-e Kavīr, 100 km southeast of Yazd in the direction of Kermān. A version of this article is available in print Volume III, Fascicle 4, pp. 391 BĀFQ, a small oasis town of central Iran (altitude 3,293 feet/1,004 m) on the southern fringe of the Dašt-e Kavīr, 62 miles/100 km southeast of Yazd in the direction of Kermān. Brackish water is supplied from qanāts and springs, and the main local activities are agriculture and weaving; some well-known iron deposits lie to the north of the town. …

or Barsḡān, a place in Central Asia, on the southern shores of the Ïsïq-Göl, in the region known as Semirechye or Yeti-su “the land of the seven rivers,” in what is now the Kyrgyz Republic. A version of this article is available in print Volume III, Fascicle 8, pp. 825 BARSḴĀN, or Barsḡān, a place in central Asia, on the southern shores of the Ïsïq-Göl, in the region known as Semirechye or Yeti-su “the land of the seven rivers,” in what is now the Kyrgyz Republic. In the medieval Islamic sources, the name seems also to have been applied, by a p…

(Pers. Baktūzūn), a Turkish slave general of the Samanids prominent in the confused struggles for power during the closing years of the Samanid amirate (end of the 10th century). A version of this article is available in print Volume IV, Fascicle 1, pp. 86 BEGTUZUN, Pers. Baktūzūn ( tuzun being from the Orkhon Turkish tōḏun, a title of high military rank in the Gök Turkish empire, see G. Clauson, An Etymological Dictionary of Pre-Thirteenth Century Turkish, Oxford, 1972, pp. 350-51), a Turkish slave general of the Samanids prominent in the confused struggles for power …

(AMĪR-E ḤARAS) “commander of the guard,” the official at the court of the ʿAbbasid caliphs and at certain of its provincial successor states who was directly responsible for policing the palace and for carrying out the caliph’s wishes. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 9, pp. 959 AMĪR-E ḤARAS “commander of the guard,” the official at the court of the ʿAbbasid caliphs and at certain of its provincial successor states who was directly responsible for policing the palace and for carrying out the caliph’s wishes, includ…

poet and official of the Samanids, fl. first half of the 4th/10th century. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 3, pp. 251 ABŪ AḤMAD B. ABĪ BAKR B. ḤĀMED AL- KĀTEB, poet and official of the Samanids, fl. first half of the 4th/10th century; his exact dates are unknown. His father, Abū Bakr, had been secretary to Amir Esmāʿīl b. Aḥmad (279-95/892-907) and vizier to Aḥmad Esmāʿīl (295-301/907-14) before the vizierate of Abū ʿAbdallāh Jayhānī. Abū Aḥmad thought that the family traditions of official servi…

title of the wife of the Khwarazmshah Tekiš b. Il-Arslān (r. 1172-1200) and mother of ʿAlāʾ-al-Din Moḥammad (r. 1200-20). TERKEN (or TORKĀN) ḴĀTUN, the title of the wife of the Khwarazmshah Tekiš b. Il-Arslān (r. 1172-1200) and mother of ʿAlāʾ-al-Din Moḥammad (r. 1200-20). Terken Ḵātun (cf. Bosworth, “Terken Khātūn”) belonged to the Qanğlı group of Turks, apparently part of the Qıpčaq confederation that at this time controlled the steppes to the north of Khwarazm (see CHORASMIA) and the Aral Sea. More precisely, Nasavi claims that she ca…

the department of the administration which, in the successor states to the ʿAbbasid caliphate in the Islamic East, looked after military affairs, such as the recruitment and discharge of soldiers, their pay allotments, etc. A version of this article is available in print Volume II, Fascicle 7, pp. 687-689 ʿARŻ, DĪVĀN(-E), the department of the administration which, in the successor states to the ʿAbbasid caliphate in the Islamic East, looked after military affairs, such as the recruitment and discharge of soldiers, their pay allotments, their t…

in early medieval times the capital of the then still Iranian province of Farḡāna. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 7, pp. 729 AḴSĪKAṮ (AḴSĪKANT, later medieval form AḴSĪ), in early medieval times the capital of the then still Iranian province of Farḡāna; according to the Ḥodūd al-ʿālam (p. 112, tr. Minorsky, p. 116), it was “the residence of the amīr and his local representatives ( ʿommāl).” At the time of the Arab conquests in Central Asia, Farḡāna was an independent principality under a Sogdian local ruler (the name Aḵsīkaṯ must …

or Atrak or ʿAbd-Allāh Abu Ḵozayma (d. 828), Kharijite rebel in Sistān and Khorasan during early ʿAbbasid times. A version of this article is available in print Volume XI, Fascicle 6, pp. 648 ḤAMZA B. ĀḎARAK or Atrak or ʿAbd-Allāh Abu Ḵozayma, Kharijite rebel in Sistān and Khorasan during early ʿAbbasid times. He was of dehqān (q.v.) stock from southern Afghanistan, to the east of Bost, where there was a long tradition of Kharijite, anti-government activity. His rebellion began in the countryside of Sistān in 179/795-96 or possibly in the following …

b. Maḥmūd b. Sebüktegīn, Abu’l-Moẓaffar, Ẓahīr-al-Dawla, Rażī-al-Dīn, etc., Ghaznavid sultan (r. 1059-99). A version of this article is available in print Volume VIII, Fascicle 1, pp. 63-65 EBRĀHĪM B. MASʿŪD ( I) b. Maḥmūd b. Sebüktegīn, Abu’l-Moẓaffar, Ẓahīr-al-Dawla, Rażī-al-Dīn, etc., Ghaznavid sultan (r. 451-92/1059-99). Ebrāhīm succeeded his brother Farroḵzād in Ḡazna on 19 Ṣafar 451/April 6, 1059 (Bayhaqī, ed. Fayyāż, p. 483) at the age of twenty-seven; he and Farroḵzād were virtually the only survivors from the general…

the basic modern form of the name of two small towns of northern Persia, normally written Āba in medieval Islamic sources. A version of this article is available in print Volume III, Fascicle 1, pp. 29-30 ĀVA, the basic modern form (and the older spoken form) of the name of two small towns of northern Persia, normally written Āba in medieval Islamic sources. The geographers of that time had difficulty in distinguishing the two places, but usually designate them by the names “Aba of Hamadān” (Maqdesī, pp. 25, 51, “Āba of Qazvīn”) and “Aba of Sāva.” 1. Āba (now Āvaj) of Hamadān. This, the mo…

the family name of two viziers of the Samanids of Transoxiana and Khorasan. ʿOTBI, the family name of two viziers of the Samanids of Transoxiana and Khorasan. 1. Abu Jaʿfar b. Moḥammad b. al-Ḥosayn (thus in Gardizi; the sources are, however, uncertain about his names and nasab), vizier in the first place to the Amir ʿAbd-al-Malek b. Nuḥ (I) from 344/956 to 348/959. After a military coup, he was appointed vizier in succession to Abu Manṣur Moḥammad b. ʿOzayr (Gardizi, p. 41; Barthold, p. 250). He is praised by Kermāni (p. 36), repeated in ʿA…

(from Ar. plur. of beʾr “well, spring”), a small settlement of medieval Islamic times on the northern fringe or the Dašt-e Kavīr, modern Bīārjomand. A version of this article is available in print Volume IV, Fascicle 2, pp. 196-197 BĪĀR (from Arabic beʾār, plur. of beʾr “well, spring”), a small settlement of medieval Islamic times on the northern fringe or the Dašt-e Kavīr, modern Bīārjomand, described by the medieval geographers as being three days’ journey from Besṭām and as being comprised administratively within the province of Qūmes (…

or BENĀKAṮ, the main town of the medieval Transoxanian province of Šāš or Čāč; it almost certainly had a pre-Islamic history as a center of the Sogdians. A version of this article is available in print Volume III, Fascicle 6, pp. 668-669 BANĀKAṮ, BENĀKAṮ (in Jovaynī, Fanākat), the main town of the medieval Transoxanian province of Šāš or Čāč, to be distinguished from the nearby town of Benkaṯ, another name of the town of Šāš, later Tashkent. Banākaṯ flourished in early Islamic times and almost certainly had a pre-Islamic history as a center of the Sogdians. According to Markwart, Wehrot und A…

ABU ʿALI AḤMAD b. Moḥammad [Ebn], Persian chancery official and treasury clerk of the Buyid period, boon companion, litterateur and accomplished writer in Arabic on a variety of topics, including history, theology, philosophy and medicine (d. 421/1030). MESKAWAYH, ABU ʿALI AḤMAD b. Moḥammad [Ebn], Persian chancery official and treasury clerk of the Buyid period, boon companion, litterateur and accomplished writer in Arabic on a variety of topics, including history, theology, philosophy and medicine (d. 421/1030). His name appears v…

penultimate ruler of the Ghaznavid dynasty, apparently still in Ghazna until the dynasty found its last home at Lahore in northwestern India at a date around or soon after the time of his death. ḴOSROWŠĀH B. BAHRĀMŠĀH, with honorifics variously recorded as Moʿezz-al-Dawla, Neẓām-al-Dawla, Moʾayyed-al-Dawla wa’l-Din, and Tāj-al-Dawla, penultimate ruler of the Ghaznavid dynasty (r. ca. 552-55/1157-60), apparently still in Ghazna until the dynasty found its last home at Lahore in northwestern India at a date around or soon after the time of his death (Bosworth, 1996, pp. 296-97). The l…

military commander in 3rd/9th century Khorasan, one of several contenders for authority in the region after the collapse of Taherid rule had left a power vacuum, d. 268/882. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 6, pp. 650 AḤMAD B. ʿABDALLĀH ḴOJESTĀNĪ, military commander in 3rd/9th century Khorasan, one of several contenders for authority in the region after the collapse of Taherid rule had left a power vacuum, d. 268/882. He was from Ḵoǰestān, a small town of Bādḡīs (the district northeast of Herat, described b…

Ghaznavid sultan (r. 509-11/1116-18). A version of this article is available in print Volume II, Fascicle 5, pp. 548-549 ARSLĀNŠĀH b. Masʿud (III) b. EbrĀhĪm, Abu’l-Molūk Solṭān-al-Dawla, Ghaznavid sultan (r. 509-11/1116-18). The alternative form of his name, Malek Arslān or Arsalān, is the more common one. When Malek Arslān’s father, Masʿūd III, died in 508/1115, his second son Ażod-al-dawla Šīrzād succeeded briefly as sultan in Ḡazna. He reigned just one year, according to Ḥamdallāh Mostawfī, when his brother Ma…

a minor Iranian Shiʿite dynasty of Māzandarān in the Caspian coastlands that flourished in the late medieval, pre-Safavid period. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 7, pp. 742-743 ĀL-E AFRĀSĪĀB, a minor Iranian Shiʿite dynasty of Māzandarān in the Caspian coastlands that flourished in the late mediaeval, pre-Safavid period; it is also called (e.g. by Rabino) the Kīā dynasty of Čalāb or Čalāv (after the district [ bolūk] of that name in Āmol, Māzandarān). In the tortuous politics and military maneuverings of the petty princes of the Cas…

amir of the line of later Saffarids, sometimes called the third dynasty of Saffarids and, by a historian like Jūzǰānī, the “Maleks of Nīmrūz and Seǰestān.” A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 3, pp. 291 ABU’L- FAŻL (in Jūzǰānī ABU’L-FATḤ) TĀJ-AL- DĪN NAṢR B. ṬĀHER, amir of the line of later Saffarids, sometimes called the third dynasty of Saffarids and, by a historian like Jūzǰānī, the “Maleks of Nīmrūz and Seǰestān.” He succeeded his father Bahāʾ-al-dawla Ṭāher b. Moḥammad in about 483/1090-91 and died, a centenarian, in 559/1164. The Tārīḵ-e Sīstān records …

a small settlement and subdistrict ( dehestān) in the district ( baḵš) of Ardakān-e Yazd. A version of this article is available in print Volume II, Fascicle 2, pp. 191 ʿAQDĀ, a small settlement and subdistrict ( dehestān) in the district ( baḵš) of Ardakān-e Yazd lying at 32° 30’ north latitude and 53° 36’ east longitude on the road connecting Yazd with Nāʾīn and Isfahan, at a distance of 74 km from Nāʾīn and 100 km from Yazd. In medieval Islamic times, ʿAqdā was regarded as an administrative dependency of Yazd and as marking the frontier between Yazd and Nāʾīn, the latte…

Arabicized form of Persian Gowzgān(ān), a district of eastern Khorasan in early Islamic times, now roughly corresponding to the northwest of modern Afghanistan. A version of this article is available in print Volume XV, Fascicle 1, pp. 81-82 JOWZJĀN, the Arabicized form of the Persian Gowz-gān(ān), a district of what was in early Islamic times eastern Khorasan, now roughly corresponding to the northwest of modern Afghanistan, adjacent to the frontier with the southeastern fringe of the Turkmenistan Republic. Vladimir Minorsky surmis…

the Arabic term for “rider on a horse, cavalryman,” connected with the verb farasa/farosa “to be knowledgeable about horses, be a skillful horseman” and the noun faras “horse." A version of this article is available in print Volume IX, Fascicle 3, pp. 245 FĀRES (plurs. forsān, fawāres), the Arabic term for “rider on a horse, cavalryman,” connected with the verb farasa/farosa “to be knowledgeable about horses, be a skillful horseman” and the noun faras “horse.” Since in ancient Arabian society the owner of a horse was a comparatively rich man, often a tribal chief, sayyed, and since in th…

vizier of the Ghaznavids in the 5th/11th century. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 3, pp. 261 ABŪ BAKR B. ABĪ ṢĀLEḤ, vizier of the Ghaznavids in the 5th/11th century. He is first heard of as the second vizier to serve Sultan Farroḵzād b. Masʿūd (443-51/1052-59). He was called to this office, probably at the end of 445 or beginning of 446/spring-summer, 1055, in succession to Ḥosayn b. Mehrān. He had already had a long career as official and soldier and for thirty years had been a governor…

member of the Dailamite dynasty of the Kakuyids (d. 536/1141?). A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 3, pp. 328-329 ABŪ KĀLĪJĀR GARŠĀSP (II), ʿALĀʾ-AL-DAWLA ʿAŻOD-AL-DĪN B. ʿALĪ B. ABĪ MANṢŪR FARĀMARZ B. ʿALĀʾ-AL-DAWLA MOḤAMMAD, member of the Dailamite dynasty of the Kakuyids (d. 536/1141?). Like his father ʿAlī and grandfather Abū Manṣūr Farāmarz, Abū Kālīǰār Garšāsp was head of the Kakuyid family in their fief of the town of Yazd, which had been granted by the Saljuq Toḡrïl Beg in 433/1051. …

Chorasmian king of the line of Anuštegin Ḡarčaʾi (r. 1156-72). He was the son and successor of ʿAlāʾ-Din Atsïz b. Moḥammad, , who had skillfully preserved the autonomy of Chorasmia. A version of this article is available in print Volume XII, Fascicle 6, pp. 643-644 IL-ARSLĀN, ABU’L-FATḤ, Chorasmian king of the line of Anuštegin Ḡarčaʾi (r. 1156-72). He was the son and successor of ʿAlāʾ-Din Atsïz b. Moḥammad (see ATSÏZ ḠARČAʾI), who had skillfully preserved the autonomy of Chorasmia (see CHORASMIA ii.) and had taken a prominent role in affa…

b. Neẓām al-Molk (1043-1106/7), eldest son of the great Saljuq vizier and himself vizier to the Saljuq sultans Barkīāroq (1092-1105) and Moḥammad b. Malekšāh (1105-18). A version of this article is available in print Volume IX, Fascicle 2, pp. 164-165 FAḴR-AL-MOLK b. Neẓām al-Molk, ABU’L-FATḤ MOẒAFFAR (b. 434/1043; d. 500/1106-7), eldest son of the great Saljuq vizier and himself vizier to the Saljuq sultans Barkīāroq (q.v.; 485-98/1092-1105) and Moḥammad b. Malekšāh (498-511/1105-18). He seems to have had no qualifications for office beyond the distinguished name o…

(or ASBĪJĀB, ESBĪJĀB) a town and district of medieval Transoxania. A version of this article is available in print Volume II, Fascicle 7, pp. 749-750 ASFĪJĀB (or ASBĪJĀB, ESBĪJĀB) a town and district of medieval Transoxania, essentially comprising the basin of the Syr Darya’s right-bank affluent, the Ares (Russian Arys’) river. The town of Asfīǰāb lay upstream from Čemkant and corresponds to the 19th-century Sayrām (in the territory of the present Soviet Kazakhstan). The district lay beyond the Iranian heartlands of Tra…

ancestor of the Samanid dynasty. A version of this article is available in print Volume II, Fascicle 7, pp. 696-697 ASAD B. SĀMĀNḴODĀ, (Sāmānḵodāt in Naršaḵī), ancestor of the Samanid dynasty. Sāmānḵodā seems to have been a local landowner ( dehqān) of the village of Sāmān in the district of Balḵ. Bīrunī gives a genealogy going back four generations from Sāmānḵodā to the Sasanian Bahrām Čūbīn ( Āṯār al-bāqīa, p. 39; Chronology, p. 48); while Gardīzī traces the line back to Gayomarṯ, the first man (ed. Nazim, pp. 19-20; ed. Ḥabībī, p 145). This affiliation of the Sa…

an anonymous local history in Persian of the eastern Iranian region of Sistān, the region that straddles the modern Iran-Afghanistan border. It forms a notable example of the flourishing genre of local histories in the pre-modern Iranian lands. TĀRIḴ-E SISTĀN, an anonymous local history in Persian of the eastern Iranian region of Sistān, the region that straddles the modern Iran-Afghanistan border. It forms a notable example of the flourishing genre of local histories, dealing with towns and provinces, in the pre-modern Iranian lands. The first and major part of the history, w…

B. EBRĀHĪM, ABU’L-MOẒAFFAR, Ghaznavid sultan in eastern Afghanistan and northwestern India (r. 1117-1157?). A version of this article is available in print Volume III, Fascicle 5, pp. 526-527 BAHRĀMŠĀH B. MASʿŪD III B. EBRĀHĪM, ABU’L-MOẒAFFAR, Ghaznavid sultan in eastern Afghanistan and northwestern India with the favored honorific title (among many) of Yamīn-al-Dawla wa Amīn-al-Mella, reigned 511-?552/1117-?1157. Bahrāmšāh was one of Masʿūd III’s several sons, though probably not by the latter’s wife Jawhar Ḵātūn, daughte…

(ĀBASKŪN), a port of the medieval period on the southwest shore of the Caspian Sea in Gorgān province. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 1, pp. 69-70 ABASKŪN (ĀBASKŪN), a port of the medieval period on the southwest shore of the Caspian Sea in Gorgān province. Perhaps it should be connected with the Sōkanda river in ancient Hyrcania mentioned by Ptolemy ( Geographia 6.9.2.). It seems to have been at or near the mouth of the Gorgān river (the Herand river in Ḥodūd al-ʿālam). According to Swedish archeologists “Abaskun should be identified with Gumüš T…

a title for highborn women in the pre-modern Turkish and Persian worlds. In early Islamic Turkish, it was used for a khan’s wife or a princess, hence as a higher title than begüm. A version of this article is available in print Volume XV, Fascicle 5, pp. 502 KĀNOM (khanom, khanum), a title for highborn women in the pre-modern Turkish and Persian worlds. In early Islamic Turkish, it was used for a khan’s wife or a princess, hence as a higher title than begüm. It is attested from Timurid times onwards, and the ambassador to the Timurid court Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo (early 15th c…

(350-66/961-76), Samanid ruler in Transoxania and Khorasan and successor of his brother ʿAbd-al-Malek after the latter’s death in Šawwāl, 350/November, 961. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 4, pp. 383-384 ABŪ ṢĀLEḤ MANṢŪR (I) B. NŪḤ B. NAṢR, called AL-AMĪR AL-SADĪD and AL-MALEK AL-MOẒAFFAR (350-66/961-76), Samanid ruler in Transoxania and Khorasan and successor of his brother ʿAbd-al-Malek after the latter’s death in Šawwāl, 350/November, 961. ʿAbd-al-Malek’s reign had been filled with discord, the ami…

literally “taster” (Pers. čāšnī “taste”), the official who at the court of Turkish dynasties in Iran and elsewhere, from the Saljuq period onwards, had the responsibility of tasting the ruler’s food and drink in order to ensure that it was not poisoned. A version of this article is available in print Volume V, Fascicle 1, pp. 47-48 ČĀŠNĪGĪR, literally “taster” (Pers. čāšnī “taste”), the official who at the court of Turkish dynasties in Iran and elsewhere, from the Saljuq period onwards, had the responsibility of tasting the ruler’s food and drink in order to ensure that it was not poisoned. Un…

sultan of the Ghaznavid dynasty, recorded on his coins with the honorifics Šehāb-al-Din wa’l-Dawla and Qoṭb-al-Mella. MAWDUD B. MASʿUD B. MAḤMUD, ABU’L-FATḤ, sultan of the Ghaznavid dynasty (r. 432-41/1041-49), recorded on his coins with the honorifics Šehāb-al-Din wa’l-Dawla and Qoṭb-al-Mella. Mawdud inherited a Ghaznavid state that had just lost its western lands, namely Ray and the fringes of Jebāl, and Khorasan, to the Saljuqs, but was still a powerful force in the Islamic East, controlling eastern Afghanistan, Baluchistan, and in…

(r. 1172-1200), ʿAlāʾ-al-Donyā wa’l-Din Abu’l-Moẓaffar, a ruler of the branch of Khwarazmshahs who descended from the Great Saljuq slave commander (ḡolām) Anuštigin Ḡarčāʾi. TEKIŠ B. IL ARSLĀN, ʿAlāʾ-al-Donyā wa’l-Din Abu’l-Moẓaffar (r. 1172-1200; for his full name, see Ebn al-Aṯir XI, p. 377; for the meaning of tekiš Turk. “he who strikes in battle,” see Bayur), a ruler of the branch of Khwarazmshahs who descended from the Great Saljuq slave commander (ḡ olām) Anuštigin Ḡarča’i (r. ca. 1077-97) and ruled in Khwarazm (see CHORASMIA). Tekiš was the eldest son of Il Arslān (r. 1…

vizier to two of the last Samanid Amirs of Transoxiana and Khorasan. BARḠAŠI, ABU’L MOẒAFFAR MOḤAMMAD b. EBRAHIM, vizier to two of the last Samanid Amirs of Transoxiana and Khorasan. Neither his birth nor death date is known, nor is the origin of his nesba clear, but it seems that he began what was presumably a secretarial career in the time of Amir Naṣr (II) b. Aḥmad (II) (r. 331-43/943-54). He comes into mention in the closing years of the emirate, being appointed vizier to Amir Nuḥ (II) b. Manṣur (I) (r. 365-87/976-97) in 386/996 when …

a region of eastern Transcaucasia. A version of this article is available in print Volume II, Fascicle 5, pp. 520-522 ARRĀN, a region of eastern Transcaucasia. It lay essentially within the great triangle of land, lowland in the east but rising to mountains in the west, formed by the junction of the Rivers Kur or Kura and Araxes or Aras. It was thus bounded on the north by Šervān; on the north west by Šakkī (Armenian Šakʿe) and Kaxeti in eastern Georgia; on the south by Armenia and Azerbaijan; and on the southeast …

(d. 1149-50), son of the well-known Saljuq vizier (d. 485/1092) and himself vizier for the Great Saljuqs and then for the ʿAbbasid caliphs. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 6, pp. 642-643 AḤMAD B. NEẒĀM-AL- MOLK, ABŪ NAṢR (d. 544/1149-50), son of the well-known Saljuq vizier (d. 485/1092) and himself vizier for the Great Saljuqs and then for the ʿAbbasid caliphs. He was born in Balḵ, his mother being a Georgian princess; she was either daughter or niece of King Bagrat I and formerly married (or at leas…

a district of eastern Transcaucasia, now within the northwesternmost part of the present-day Republic of Azerbaijan, where the modern town of Sheki or Shaki. ŠAKKI, a district of eastern Transcaucasia, now within the northwesternmost part of the present-day Republic of Azerbaijan, where the modern town of Sheki or Shaki (lat 41°12′ N, long 47°10′ E) perpetuates its older name; in 2008 the town had a population of 65,000. The usual boundaries of pre-modern Šakki comprised, on the north to northeast, the southern slopes …

(or Bavan), a small town in the medieval Islamic province of Bāḏḡīs, to the north and west of Herat. A version of this article is available in print Volume III, Fascicle 3, pp. 306-307 BABAN (or Bavan), a small town in the medieval Islamic province of Bāḏḡīs, to the north and west of Herat, more particularly, in the district of Ganj Rostāq (q.v.), which formed the eastern part of Bāḏḡīs. It must have been within the Herat welāyat of modern Afghanistan, just south of the border with the Turkmenistan S.S.R. and near the modern Afghan town of Košk. The 4th/10th-century geographers link it with …

b. Solṭān-al-Dawla Abū Šojāʿ (1009-48), amir of the Buyid dynasty in the period of that family’s decadence and incipient disintegration, being the last effective ruler of the line. A version of this article is available in print Volume VIII, Fascicle 4, pp. 382 ʿEMĀD-AL-DĪNMARZBĀN, ABŪ KĀLĪJĀR b. Solṭān-al-Dawla Abū Šojāʿ (399-440/1009-48), amir of the Buyid dynasty in the period of that family’s decadence and incipient disintegration, being the last effective ruler of the line. He ruled over Fārs and Ḵūzestān 415-40/1024-48, in Kermān fro…

official of the Buyids and writer in Arabic of the 4th/10th century. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 3, pp. 324 ABU’L- ḤOSAYN AḤMAD B. SAʿD KĀTEB, official of the Buyids and writer in Arabic of the 4th/10th century. Little is known of him beyond what Yāqūt records in his biographical notice. He apparently came from Fārs; in 323/935 he was appointed head of the finances of the province of Isfahan by the Buyid amir ʿEmād-al-dawla, who had in the previous year taken over Fārs from the governor o…

a town in medieval northern Khorasan. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 2, pp. 218-219 ABĪVARD, a town in medieval Iran situated in northern Khorasan, in the northern foothills of the Hazār Masǰed range where these mountains slope down in the Qara Qum desert. It is important historically as part of the protective chain of frontier defense posts established by the ancient Iranian kings against the irruption of barbarians from the steppes of Inner Asia. Its site (now called Kohna Abīva…

or GMS; a series of publications, which has continued for almost a century, mainly, but not exclusively, dedicated to editions and translations of Arabic, Persian, and Turkish texts. A version of this article is available in print Volume X, Fascicle 6, pp. 601-602 GIBB MEMORIAL SERIES (GMS), a series of publications, which has continued for almost a century, mainly, but not exclusively, dedicated to editions and translations of Arabic, Persian, and Turkish texts. The Series is financed by the Gibb Memorial Trust, which was originally set up…

(also A/Āstovā; Ostov), a rural district ( rostāq) of northern Khorasan, considered in medieval Islamic times to be an administrative dependency of Nišāpur. OSTOVĀ (also A/Āstovā; Ostov), a rural district ( rostāq) of northern Khorasan, considered in medieval Islamic times to be an administrative dependency of Nišāpur. According to Yāqut ( Boldān, Beirut, I, pp. 175-76), it comprised ninety-three villages. It lay across the road going north from Nišāpur to Nasā on the edge of the steppes. It was in the corridor of Atrak and Kašafrud rivers betwe…

or ANDARĀBA, the name of a river and a town situated upon it in northern Afghanistan. A version of this article is available in print Volume II, Fascicle 1, pp. 10 ANDARĀB or ANDARĀBA (Lit.: " between the rivers"), the name of a river and a town situated upon it in northern Afghanistan, in what was in mediaeval Islamic times the province of Ṭoḵārestān. The valley lies in 35° 47’ north latitude and 68° 49’ east longitude, and falls within the modern Afghan province (post-1964 administrative reorganization) of Baḡlān. The town …

(now OŠNAVIYA), a small town of southwestern Azerbaijan. It lies near the southwestern corner of Lake Urmia on the Qādar-Čay river; it is some 32 km from the lakeshore and also some 32 km from the meeting-place of the modern frontiers of Iran, Turkey, and Iraq. The medieval geographers reckoned its distance from Tabriz as 16 farsang òs. It lies on a historic route from the Urmia basin over the Kela-Šin Pass to Ravānduz and the plains of northern Iraq. OŠNUYA, OŠNU, OŠNOH (now OŠNAVIYA), a small town of southwestern Azerbaijan. It lies near the southwestern corner of Lake Ur…

governor in Khorasan during the confused struggles for supremacy there between the Saffarids, Samanids, and various military adventures in the late 3rd/9th and early 4th/10th century, d. 307/920. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 6, pp. 643-644 AḤMAD B. SAHL B. HĀŠEM, governor in Khorasan during the confused struggles for supremacy there between the Saffarids, Samanids, and various military adventures in the late 3rd/9th and early 4th/10th century, d. 307/920. Aḥmad sprang from an aristocratic family of Persian dehqāns of the Marv oasis, the Kām…

the first fully independent ruler of the Turkish Ghaznavid dynasty, who reigned (388-421/998-1030) over what had become by his death a vast military empire. MAḤMUD B. SEBÜKTEGIN, YAMIN-AL-DAWLA ABU’L-QĀSEM, the first fully independent ruler of the Turkish Ghaznavid dynasty (see GHAZNAVIDS), who reigned (388-421/998-1030) over what had become by his death a vast military empire stretching from northwestern Persia to the Punjab in India and from Ḵᵛārazm (Chorasmia) and the middle stretches of the Oxus River to Makrān and the Arabian Sea shores. On the maternal side, he was the e…

governor in Ḵᵛārazm and son of the last Tahirid governor in Khorasan. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 6, pp. 642 AḤMAD B. MOḤAMMAD B. ṬĀHER, governor in Ḵᵛārazm and son of the last Tahirid governor in Khorasan. Although Vasmer has doubted whether Ṭāher b. Moḥammad, who ruled in Marv after the capture of Moḥammad b. Ṭāher at Nīšāpūr in 259/873, was the latter’s son, there seems no reason to doubt the filiation of Aḥmad. He is mentioned by Ebn al-Aṯīr, in his account of the complex fighting …

Official, soldier and poet of the Ghaznavid empire, flourished in the second half of the 5th/11th century during the reigns of the sultans Ebrāhīm b. Masʿūd I and Masʿūd III b. Ebrāhīm. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 4, pp. 350-351 ABŪ NAṢR HEBATALLĀH FĀRSĪ, QEWĀM-AL-MOLK NEẒĀM-AL-DĪN, official, soldier and poet of the Ghaznavid empire, flourished in the second half of the 5th/11th century during the reigns of the sultans Ebrāhīm b. Masʿūd I and Masʿūd III b. Ebrāhīm. His antecedents and his dates of birth an…