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author of a famous Mirror for Princes, best known as the Qābus-nāma, although other, more general titles such as Naṣiḥat-nāma, or Pand-nāma, also occur in the sources. A version of this article is available in print Volume XVI, Fascicle 2, pp. 180-182 KAYKĀVUS (also Kaykāʾus) b. ESKANDAR b. Qābus b. Vošmgir, Amir ʿOnṣor-al-Maʿāli, the author of a famous Mirror for Princes, best known as the Qābus-nāma, although other, more general titles such as Naṣiḥat-nāma, or Pand-nāma, also occur in the sources. He was born about 412/1021 as a prince of the Ziarid dynasty, which a …

a short maṯnavi by Sanāʾi of Ghazna (d. 1131), containing panegyric as well as satirical verses addressed to, or describing, people from various layers of Ghaznavid society. A version of this article is available in print Volume XV, Fascicle 6, pp. 585 KĀR-NĀMA-YE BALḴ, a short maṯnavi by Sanāʾi of Ghazna (d. 1131), containing panegyric as well as satirical verses addressed to, or describing, people from various layers of Ghaznavid society. As in his other maṯnavis, Sanāʾi uses the meter ḵafif-e mosaddas-e maḥḏuf in the Kār-nāma. The presence of a strong element of satire in the…

mystic and poet of the 14th century who used ʿEmād or, more rarely, ʿEmād-e Faqīh, as a pen name. A version of this article is available in print Volume VIII, Fascicle 4, pp. 378-379 ʿEMĀD-AL-DĪN ʿALĪ FAQĪH KERMĀNĪ, mystic and poet of the 8th/14th century who used ʿEmād or, more rarely, ʿEmād-e Faqīh, as a pen name. He was born in Kermān toward the end of the 7th/13th century. Both his father, Maḥmūd Faqīh, and ʿEmād-al-Dīn were religious scholars and mystics whose spiritual pedigree reached back, through the teacher Neẓām-al-Dīn M…

(also vocalized Kasāʾi), 10th-century Persian poet. A version of this article is available in print Volume XVI, Fascicle 4, pp. 338-340 KESĀʾI MARVAZI (also vocalized Kasāʾi), Persian poet of the second half of the 4th/10th century. His full name was probably Abu’l-Ḥasan Majd-al-Din ʿAli b. Moḥammad, as it is mentioned in Abu’l-Qāsem Bāḵarzi’s Domyat al-qaṣr, but some later sources (e.g., Āẕar Bigdeli, II, p. 660; Hedāyat, III, p. 1134) give Abu Esḥāq as his patronymic ( konya; cf. Riāḥi, 1996, p. 18). The honorific term ḥakim, which often precedes his name, indicates his reputa…

(Ar. balāḡa), one of the most general terms to denote eloquence in speech and writing. The branches of literary criticism which developed within Muslim civilization became known collectively as the science ( ʿelm) or art ( ṣenāʿa) of balāḡat. A version of this article is available in print Volume III, Fascicle 6, pp. 571-572 BALĀḠAT (Arabic balāḡa), one of the most general terms to denote eloquence in speech and writing. Its etymology is usually based on the meaning “to reach” of the verb balaḡa. Therefore baloḡa “to be eloquent” is taken to mean: to be able “to convey” the inte…

rhetorical embellishment. During the early Islamic period the word developed into a technical term through its use in discussions about Arabic poetry and ornate prose. A version of this article is available in print Volume III, Fascicle 4, pp. 372-376 BADĪʿ, rhetorical embellishment. The Arabic word badīʿ refers in general to the concept of novelty. In the Koran the Creator is named badīʿ al-samawāt wa’l-arż (2:117; 6:101), which implies that the act of creation was without precedent and not dependent on any model. As an adjective with a passive meaning, the…

(b. The Hague, 1596; d. Leiden, 1667), Dutch orientalist who widened the scope of Persian studies, as they had been pursued by Dutch Arabists since the end of the 16th century. A version of this article is available in print Volume XI, Fascicle 1, pp. 96 GOLIUS, JACOBUS (latinized form of the Dutch name Jacob Gool), Dutch orientalist (b. The Hague, 1596; d. Leiden, 28 September 1667), who descended from a family of patricians in the city of Leiden. From 1612 onwards he read medicine, mathematics, and astronomy at Leiden University. His inter…

b. ʿAlī, the supposed author of a version of the Baḵtīārꏂnāma, who lived from the late 12th to the 13th century. A version of this article is available in print Volume VI, Fascicle 6, pp. 660-661 DAQĀYEQĪ MARVAZĪ, ŠAMS-AL-DĪN MOḤAMMAD b. ʿAlī , the supposed author of a version of the Baḵtīār-nāma, who lived from the late 12th to the 13th century. All that is known about him is a brief passage by Moḥammad ʿAwfī (d. ca. 630/1232), who spent his early years in Bukhara and recollected that he had probably seen him there ( Lobāb I, pp. 212-15). He described Daqāyeqī as a man of letters who pre…

(b. Leiden, 21 February 1820, d. Leiden, 29 April 1883), Dutch orientalist renowned especially as a lexicographer of Arabic and a historian of Muslim Andalusia. A version of this article is available in print Volume VII, Fascicle 5, pp. 526 DOZY, REINHARD PETRUS ANNE (b. Leiden, 21 February 1820, d. Leiden, 29 April 1883), Dutch orientalist renowned especially as a lexicographer of Arabic and a historian of Muslim Andalusia. He began his studies at Leiden University in 1834 with H. E. Weijers (1804-40), who introduced him to Arabic philo…

(Hendu) denotes in Persian an inhabitant of the Indian subcontinent as well as a follower of Hinduism. The stereotype of the Hindu developed into an element of lyrical imagery which had little to do with reality. A version of this article is available in print Volume XII, Fascicle 3, pp. 311-312 HINDU (Hendu), denotes in Persian an inhabitant of the Indian Subcontinent as well as a follower of Hinduism. During almost three millennia, the eastern Iranians have lived in close contact with the Indians. Their mutual experiences left traces in histor…

AWḤAD-AL-DĪN MOḤAMMAD (or ʿALĪ), poet at the court of the Saljuqs in the 12th century. A version of this article is available in print Volume II, Fascicle 2, pp. 141-143 ANWARĪ, AWḤAD-AL-DĪN MOḤAMMAD (or ʿALĪ), poet at the court of the Saljuqs in the 6th/12th century. His first name and the name of his father vary even in the earliest sources: According to ʿAwfī ( Lobāb II, p. 125) he was called Moḥammad b. Moḥammad; Moḥammad Ẓāher Samarqandī (author of the Sendbād-nāma), a contemporary of the poet, in his work AʿrāzÎʷ al-sīāsa fī aḡrāż al-rīāsa, gives the name as Moḥammad b. ʿAlī b. Esḥ…

b. Abī Bakr b. ʿOṯmān (b. in Herat; d. in Isfahan, 1287), Persian poet of the Mongol period also noted for his learning. A version of this article is available in print Volume VIII, Fascicle 4, pp. 393 EMĀMĪ HERĀVĪ, RAŻĪ-AL-DĪN ABŪ ʿABD-ALLĀH MOḤAMMAD b. Abī Bakr b. ʿOṯmān, Persian poet of the Mongol period, also noted for his learning (b. in Herat; d. in Isfahan in 686/1287). During the decade 650-60/1250-60 he wrote panegyrics for the Qara Khitai rulers of Kermān and their officials. His residence in Kermān more or less coincided with …

Initially Ethé worked as an assistant librarian at the Bodleian, on leave of absence from the University of Munich. In 1874 he abandoned his lectureship in Germany and settled down in Great Britain. The motivation for this move may have been political, at least in part, because Ethé is described as “a German radical, . . . a persona ingrata with absolutist governments” A version of this article is available in print Volume IX, Fascicle 1, pp. 1-3 ETHÉ, CARL HERMANN (b. Stralsund, Prussia, 13 February 1844, d. Bristol, England, 7 June 1917; Figure 1), German orientalist best…

a Persian didactical maṯnawi by the twelfth-century poet Ḥakim Majdud b. Ādam Sanāʾi. A version of this article is available in print Volume XI, Fascicle 4, pp. 441-442 ḤADIQAT AL-ḤAQIQA WA ŠARIʿAT AL-ṬARIQA a Persian didactical maṯnawi by Ḥakim Majdud b. Ādam Sanāʾi. The poem, written in the meter ḵafif-e mosaddas-e maḵbun-e maḥḏuf, was dedicated to the Ghaznavid sultan Bahrāmšāh (q.v.) shortly before the death of the poet, which probably occurred in 525/1131. Apparently, Sanāʾi did not complete a single final text. In a prose introduction, handed down in many copies of the Ḥadiqa, a c…

(also Henry), a German orientalist and scholar of Persian language and literature who spent most of his career in India (1838-1878). A version of this article is available in print Volume IV, Fascicle 3, pp. 314-315 BLOCHMANN, HEINRICH (Henry) FERDINAND, a German Orientalist and scholar of Persian language and literature who spent most of his career in India. He was born on 8 January 1838 in Dresden, the son of the owner of a printing workshop. From 1855 to 1857 he studied Oriental languages at the University of Leipzig with H. L.…

(d. ca. 1130), Persian poet of the later Ghaznavid era, celebrated particularly for his homiletic poetry and his great influence on the development of mystical literature in general. SANĀʾI, Majdud b. Ādam Ḡaznavi, Persian poet, celebrated especially on account of his homiletic poetry and his great influence on the development of mystical literature (born and died in Ghazna, ca. 1087/1130, for further details see below). He normally used 'Sanāʾi' as a pen name in his poems, but very occasionally he also used his first name…

(1774-1856), prolific Austrian orientalist, among whose many works is the first ever complete translation of the Divān of Ḥāfeẓ into a Western language. A version of this article is available in print Volume XI, Fascicle 6, pp. 644-646 HAMMER-PURGSTALL, JOSEPH FREIHERR von, prolific Austrian Orientalist, among whose many works is the first ever complete translation of the Divān of Ḥāfeẓ into a western language (b. Graz, Austria, 9 June 1774, d. Vienna, 23 November 1856). When in 1791 his father Josef Hammer, a steward of crown domains and subsequently…

11th century Persian poet, mentioned among the court poets of Ḡazna. A version of this article is available in print Volume VIIi, Fascicle 6, pp. 601 ESKĀFI, ABŪ ḤANĪFA, Persian poet, mentioned among the court poets of Ḡazna ( Čahār maqāla, ed. Qazvīnī, text, p. 44). Contemporary information about his life is provided by Bayhaqī (q.v.), who met him for the first time in 451/1059 when the latter was still a young man. Abū Ḥanīfa, to whom Bayhaqī gives the titles ostād and faqīh, had already achieved a reputation as a religious scholar and a man of letters. Impressed by his tale…

term (lit. “statement,” “exposition,” “explanation”) from an early date encompassing the various arts of expression in speech and writing. Often ʿelm-e bayān merely denotes rhetoric as a whole. A version of this article is available in print Volume III, Fascicle 8, pp. 877-878 BAYĀN, a noun common to Arabic and Persian meaning “statement,” “exposition,” “explanation.” From an early date onward, it also encompassed the various arts of expression in speech and writing. As a critical term, bayān refers especially to clarity of expression ( ḥosn-e bayān); this quality was reckoned a…

Persian writer on ethics and poet of the Safavid period (b. Karbalā, ca. 1592; d. Ray, ca. 1653). A version of this article is available in print Volume XV, Fascicle 6, pp. 656-657 KĀŠEF ŠIRĀZI, MIR MOḤAMMAD-ŠARIF B. ŠAMS-AL-DIN MOḤAMMAD, Persian writer on ethics and poet of the Safavid period (b. Karbalā, ca. 1001/1592; d. Ray, ca. 1063/1653). Variants of his pen name are Kāšef, Kāšef-e Komeyt and Šarifā Kāšef. His father, Šamsā of Shiraz, was an expert in account keeping. While he was still at a tender age, Kāšef’s family returned to Persia, settling down in Isfahan, where…