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ʿAlawī, better known as ʿAbd al-Ḳarīm Muns̲h̲ī, a Persian historian of the middle ofthe xixth century. His best known work is the Taʾrīk̲h̲-i Aḥmad or Aḥmads̲h̲āhī composed for ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. Ḥād̲j̲d̲j̲ī Muḥammad Rawshan-Ḵh̲ān, a history of the founder of the Durrānī dynasty in Afg̲h̲ānistan, Aḥmad S̲h̲āh. After ʿAbd al-Ḳarīm had finished a history of S̲h̲ud̲j̲āʿ al-Mulk Durrānī and the conquest of Ḵh̲urāsān in 1235 (1820), he decided to write a complete history of the Durrānīs and began his Taʾrīk̲h̲-i Aḥmad. The work is based on the Taʾrīk̲h̲-i Ḥusains̲h̲āhī of Imām al-Dīn Ḥus…

, Muns̲h̲ī of the Ḳād̲j̲ār prince Ḏj̲alāl al-Dīn Mīrzā and translator into Persian of the famous comedies of the Ād̲h̲arbāid̲j̲ānī playwright Mīrzā Fatḥ ʿAlī Āk̲h̲undzāde. After they had been published ¶ (1859) Mīrzā Fatḥ ʿAlī sent a copy of his plays to the above-mentioned Ḳād̲j̲ār prince in the hope that he would take notice of it. But the book lay unheeded for years in the prince’s library until Muḥammad Ḏj̲aʿfar opened it by chance. The muns̲h̲ī, delighted with the plays, at once decided to translate them into Persian. A…

, a Persian biographer. Hardly anything is known of his life. He belonged to Raiy where his father Ḵh̲wād̲j̲a Mīrzā Aḥmad was celebrated for his wealth and benevolence. He was in high favour with S̲h̲āh Ṭahmāsp and was appointed by him kalāntar of his native town. His paternal uncle Ḵh̲wād̲j̲a Muḥammad S̲h̲arīf was vizier of Ḵh̲urāsān, Yazd and Iṣfahān, his cousin G̲h̲iyāt̲h̲-Beg a high official at the court of the Emperor Akbar. Amīn himself is said to have visited India. The work to which he owes his fame is the great collection of biographies Haft Iḳlīm (finished in 1002 = 1594). For m…

b. ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd Abu ’l-Maʿālī of S̲h̲īrāz, a Persian author and statesman, vizier of the G̲h̲aznawid Ḵh̲usraw Malik (1160—1186) by whose orders he was arrested and executed. Naṣr was the first Persian to succeed in giving a satisfactory Persian version of the celebrated Ḵh̲alīla u-Dimna. His version is based on the Arabic of ʿAbd Allāh b. Muḳaffaʿ and was completed about 538—539 (1144), i. e. in the time of Bahrāms̲h̲āh (1118— 1152). For a long time his translation was regarded as a model of elegant Persian style which could not be surpa…

, Mīrzā Nūr al-Dīn Muḥammad, son of Ḥakīm Fatḥ al-Dīn S̲h̲īrazī, a Persian author, was born in India and came of a family several of whom had been distinguished physicians in their ancestral home in S̲h̲īrāz. He entered the service of the state under S̲h̲āh-Ḏj̲ahān (1628—1659) and was appointed keeper of the crown jewels with the title of dārūg̲h̲a-yi d̲j̲awāhirk̲h̲āna. He attained his highest honours under Awrangzēb (1659—1707) who gave him the title of Niʿmat Ḵh̲ān (1104 = 1692-1693), which was later changed to Muḳarrab Ḵh̲ān and then to Dānis̲h̲mand Ḵh̲ān. He died at Dehli on the 1st Rab…

, Nihẓām al-Dīn Abu Muḥammad Ilyās b. Yūsuf, one of the greatest poets of Persia. He was born in Gand̲j̲a, the later Elisavetpol in 535 (1140—1141). His parents died while he was still quite young so that the education of the boy and of his brother had to be undertaken by his uncle. From Niẓāmī’s poems, it is apparent that his uncle very soon followed his parents to the grave. Nevertheless the two boys succeeded in getting an excellent education, for Niẓāmī’s brother, who wrote under the pen-name of Ḳiwāmī Muṭarrizī, attained a very high skill as a writer of ḳaṣīdas (an ingenious ḳaṣīda by him is…

whose full name was Abū Muʿīn Nāṣir b. Ḵh̲usraw b. Ḥārit̲h̲., one of the most important Persian poets of the xith century. Life. Nāṣir was born in 394 (1003) in Ḳubādiyān in the district of Balk̲h̲, The Persian historians usually call him ʿAlawī which in this case can hardly mean descent from the caliph ʿAlī but simply indicates his adherence to the S̲h̲īʿa. His father was probably a small landowner in the vicinity of Balk̲h̲. Nāṣir received a good education and was early acquainted with almost all branches of the learning of his day. In the forties of the xith century we find him as an offic…

, a Persian historian. His father was for 35 years in the service of the Great Mug̲h̲al Akbar (1556—1605) where he was a k̲h̲āliṣa inspector. Niʿmat Allāh himself was for 11 years historian to Ḏj̲ahāngīr (1605—1628), then entered the service of Ḵh̲ān-Ḏj̲ahān whom he accompanied in 1018 (1609—1610) on the campaign against the Dekkan. Soon afterwards he became acquainted with Miyān-Haibat-Ḵh̲ān b. Salīm-Ḵh̲ān Kākar of Sāmāna who persuaded him to write a history of the reign of Ḵh̲ān-Ḏj̲ahān. Niʿma…

, Ḥasan, a Persian historian whose full name was Ṣādr al-Dīn Muḥammad b. Ḥasan. Born in Nīs̲h̲āpūr, he went on the advice of his s̲h̲aik̲h̲ Muḥammad Kūfī to G̲h̲aznī to give an opportunity to his remarkable talents as a stylist. A severe illness forced him to leave G̲h̲aznī, and he went to Dihli were he obtained an appointment as court historian to the Pathān Sulṭāns and began in 602 (1206) his great historical work Tād̲j̲ al-Maʾāt̲h̲ir fī Taʾrīk̲h̲, which brought him great fame. It deals with the history of the first three Paṭhān Sulṭāns of Dehli — Muḥammad b. Sām (588—…

, S̲h̲aik̲h̲ Ḍiyāʾ al-Dīn (d. 751 = 1350), a famous Persian author (not to be confused with the famous Ṣūfī S̲h̲aik̲h̲ Abū Turāb Nak̲h̲s̲h̲abī, d. 245 = 860). Very little is known of his career. His nisba suggests that he came from Nak̲h̲s̲h̲ab [q. v.] but he went to India where he became a murīd of S̲h̲aik̲h̲ Farīd, a descendant of the celebrated S̲h̲aik̲h̲ Ḥamīd al-Dīn Nāgūrī. The Ak̲h̲bār al-Ak̲h̲yār of ʿAbd al-Ḥaḳḳ Dihlawī (Dihlī 1309, p. 104—107) says that he died in Badāʾūn after a long and contemplative life and that his tomb is there. Nak̲h̲s̲h̲abī was a …

, Bark̲h̲wurdār b. Maḥmūd Turkmān Farāhī, a Persian writer, a contemporary of the Ṣafawid Sulṭān Ḥusain (1694—1722). At an early age he left his native town of Farāh ¶ and went to Marw where he entered the service of the governor Aṣlān-Ḵh̲ān. After two years however, he left this post and became muns̲h̲ī with Ḥasan Ḳūlī Ḵh̲ān S̲h̲āmlū Ḳūrči-bās̲h̲ī in Iṣfahān. At a banquet there at his master’s house he heard a story which attracted him exceedingly. He wrote it down and it became the foundation of a great collection, Maḥfilārā, which contained about 400 stories and consisted of a muḳaddama, ei…

, a famous Persian calligrapher, pupil of the celebrated Mīr Saiyid Aḥmad Mas̲h̲hadī and teacher of the ¶ no less famous Mīr ʿImād. His remarkable command of the art of calligraphy, so popular in Persia, brought him the title of honour Mihīn Ustād (greatest master). His father Mīrzā S̲h̲ukrullāh was Mustawfī al-Mamālik to the Ṣafawid Ṭahmāsp I (1521—1576), the master himself, according to the Oriental sources, was vizier to S̲h̲āh Ismāʿīl II (1576—1578) but lost the favour of the sovereign and was forced to fly to India where he remained to his …

(d. 933 = 1526—1527), a Persian writer, author of the famous Futūḥ al-Ḥaramain, a poetical description of the two holy cities, Mecca and Medīna, which also contains a full account of all the rites of the obligatory pilgrimage ( ḥad̲j̲d̲j̲). This book, written in 911 (1506) and dedicated to Muẓaffar b. Maḥmūd S̲h̲āh of Gud̲j̲arāt (917— 932 = 1511—1526), was for a long time wrongly attributed to the celebrated poet ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Ḏj̲āmī. Muḥyī Lārī was a pupil of the great philosopher Muḥammad al-Dawānī (d. 907 = 1501) and made use of h…

, a Persian mystic. Amīr Nūr al-Dīn Niʿmat Allāh, son of Mīr ʿAbd Allāh, and a descendant of the fifth imām of the S̲h̲īʿa, Bākir, the founder of the Niʿmat Allāhī order, is highly esteemed in Persia as a great saint and wonder-worker. He was born in Ḥalab in ¶ 730—731 (1329—1330/1), spent his early years in the ʿIrāḳ and went to Mecca at the age of 24 where he became a pupil and k̲h̲alīfa of the famous S̲h̲aik̲h̲ ʿAbd Allāh Yāfiʿī [see yāfiʿī]. After his teacher’s death, he went to Samarḳand, then visited Herāt and Yazd and finally settled in Māhān, 8 farsak̲h̲s from Kirmān, …

, Amīr Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad b. ʿAbd al-Malik, one of the most famous of Persian court poets. His place of birth is not exactly known. According to most of the sources he was born in Samarḳand about 440 (1048—1049) but Nasā and Nīs̲h̲āpūr are also mentioned. The son of a little known poet ʿAbd al-Malik Burhānī, who was attached to the court of the Sald̲j̲ūḳ Alp Arslān (1063 —1072), he was introduced to Sulṭān Malik-S̲h̲āh (1072—1092) by Amīr ʿAlī b. Farāmurz, ruler of Yazd (443-488 = 1051/1502—1095), made a favourable impression on the sulṭān and received from him the tak̲h̲alluṣ of Muʿizzī,…

, Muḥammad Riḍā of Ḵh̲abūs̲h̲ān in the vicinity of Mas̲h̲had, a Persian poet. The son of a merchant, in his youth he spent some time in Kās̲h̲ān where he studied under the Mawlānā Muḥtas̲h̲am. Moving to Marw, he became intimate with the Ḥākim Nūr Muḥammad Ḵh̲ān there. Like the majority of Persian poets of the xvith century, however, he was attracted by the brilliant court of the Mog̲h̲uls and went to India where at first he found a patron in the person of Mīrzā Yūsuf Ḵh̲ān Mas̲h̲hadī but soon afterwards entered the service of Ḵh̲ānk̲h̲ānān Mīrzā ʿAb…

whose full name was Muʿīn al-Dīn Muḥammad Amīn b. Ḥād̲j̲d̲j̲ī Muḥammad al-Farāhī al-Harawī and whose tak̲h̲alluṣ was Muʿīnī (d. 907=1501—1502), a celebiated traditionist. He studied Ḥadīt̲h̲ for 31 years and throughout this period preached every Friday in the great mosque of Herāt. He was for year ḳāḍī of Herāt but gave up the post by his own request. In 866 (1461—1462) at the request of a friend, he began to write a little book on the life of the Prophet Muḥammad. Out of this little book there grew in time the great biographical work, exceedingly popular in the East, called Maʿārid̲j̲ al-Nubu…

, a Persian poet, born about 1046 (1636—1637), the son of a Ḥusainī Saiyid Mīr Muḥammad Muʾmin of Iṣfahān. Little is known of his life. Only this much is certain, that he, like many other Persian poets of this time, worked in the offices of different Persian dignitaries. For example he was a mustawfī [q. v.] with Ṣadr Mīrzā Ḥabīb Allāh, later occupied the same office in Astarābād and ended his career in 1126 (1714) after being for many years muns̲h̲ī with the Ṣafawid princes S̲h̲āh Sulaimān (1667— 1694) andS̲h̲āh Sulṭān Ḥusain (1694—1722). He owes his fame mainly to alongpoem Gulu-Kus̲h̲tī (“W…

, a Persian poet. Mullā Nāẓim, son of S̲h̲āh Riḍā Sabzawārī, was born in Herāt about 1016 (1607) and spent the greater part of his life there. Little is known of his career, except that he made a journey to India and, after spending several years in Ḏj̲ahāngīrnagar, returned to his native town where he died in 1081 (1670—1671). He was court poet of the Beglerbegīs of Herāt and his greatest work, the Yūsuf u-Zulaik̲h̲ā begun in 1058 (1648) and finished in 1072 (1661—1662), was dedicated to one of these governors, ʿAbbās Ḳūlī Ḵh̲ān S̲h̲āmlū. This, a poem of considerable…

of Sarhind (d. in Dihlī on the 6th Ramaḍān 1108 = March 29, 1697), one of the best of the Persian poets of India, who were by this time very numerous; their productions however are for the most part of little artistic value. Of his life we know only that he travelled a great deal but finally settled in Sarhind were he enjoyed the favour of the governor Saif Ḵh̲ān Badak̲h̲s̲h̲ī and of the Āmir al-Umarāʾ Ḏh̲u ’l-Fiḳār Ḵh̲ān. His principal work is a version of the love story of Madhumalat and Manūhar in P…