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[English edition] الصفويّون سلالة ملوك حكموا فارس حكما فعليّا بين سنتي 907–1135 هـ/ 1501–1722 م، وحكما صوريّا بين سنتي 1142–1148 هـ/ 1729–1736 م، ومن ثمّ، طالبوا بالعرش حتّى سنة 1186 هـ/ 1773 م. 1. تاريخ السلالة الحاكمة والتاريخ السياسيّ والعسكريّ يمثّل تأسيس الدولة الصفويّة سنة 907هـ/1501م على يد الشاه إسماعيل (الذي كان في البداية حاكمًا على أذربيجان فقط)، نقطة تحوّل مهمّة في التاريخ الفارسيّ. فقد قام الصفويّون في البداية باسترجاع السيادة الفارسيّة على كلّ المساحة التي كانت تعرف تاريخيّا بقلب الإمبراطوريّة الفارسيّة للمرّة الأو…

[English edition] 1. جغرافيا 1.1 الخصائص الجيولوجيّة تعتبر سلسلتا جبال البورز وجبال زاغروس اللتّان تمتدّان تباعا من الغرب إلى الشّرق ومن الشّمال الغربيّ إلى الجنوب الشّرقيّ أهمّ الوحدات الطّبوغرافيّة بإيران. فعلى نطاق واسع، تمثّل جبال البورز امتدادا للبنى الآلبيّة الأوروبيّة، بينما تعتبر جبال زاغروس تواصلا للآلب الديناريّة عبر قبرص (فيشير، 1956). وقد تأثّرت البنية الجبليّة لحاشية البلاد بشدّة الحركات البنائيّة التّي لم تسبّب فقط التواءً كبيرًا للطبقات أدّى إلى ظهور جبال مرتفعة، بل أدّت أيضاً إلى انقلاب…

A version of this article is available in printVolume VI, Fascicle 4, pp. 356-388COURTS AND COURTIERS i. In the Median and Achaemenid periodsAvailable information on the Median and Achaemenid imperial courts is very limited and not entirely reliable. From Herodotus’ report (1.114) of the child Cyrus’ playing at being king it seems that the Median court included bodyguards, messengers, the “king’s eye” (a kind of secret agent; see below), and builders, for it is likely that the game was modeled on the existing court (…

(1906-1985), Czech orientalist who specialized in Central Asian history, Persian historiography, and Turcology.A version of this article is available in printVolume XIV, Fascicle 4, pp. 391-392 JAHN, KARL EMIL OSKAR (b. Brno, 26 March 1906; d. Utrecht, 7 November 1985), Czech Orientalist who specialized in Central-Asian history, Persian historiography, and Turcology; he lived and worked in Czechoslovakia, Austria, Germany, and the Netherlands. His father’s family originated from German Silesia and emigrated to the Austri…

Celebrated Persian lyric poet (ca. 715-792/1315-1390).A version of this article is available in printVolume XI, Fascicle 5, pp. 461-507 HAFEZ (Ḥāfeẓ), ŠAMS-AL-DIN MOḤAMMAD of Shiraz (ca. 715-792/1315-1390), celebrated Persian lyric poet.HAFEZ i. An OverviewHafez is the most popular of Persian poets. If a book of poetry is to be found in a Persian home, it is likely to be the Divān (collected poems) of Hafez. Many of his lines have become proverbial sayings, and there are few who cannot recite some of his lyrics, partially or totally, by heart. His Divān is widely used in bibliomancy ( fāl; …

, Ḥamīd al-Dīn Aḥmad b. ʿAbd Allāh , was a prominent dāʿī of the Fāṭimids during the reign of al-Ḥākim bi-amr Allāh (386-411/996-1021) as well as the author of many works on the theory of the Imāmate and on Ismāʿīlī philosophy. The life of al-Kirmānī is known only in its main outlines, which can be traced on the basis of statements contained in his own works. Some other details can be derived from unpublished Ismāʿīlī sources, as has been done notably by Muṣṭafā G̲h̲ālib ( op. cit., 41 f.) who, however, does not specify these sources. His nisba points to his origin fro…

, Mad̲j̲dūd b. Ādam al-G̲h̲aznawī, Persian poet. In early sources already the kunya Abu ’l-Mad̲j̲d is sometimes added to his name. As a pen name he used Sanāʾī, only rarely Mad̲j̲dūd or Mad̲j̲dūd Sanaʾī. The former name could have been derived from Sanāʾ al-Milla, one of the laḳabs of the G̲h̲aznawid sultan Masʿūd III, but the poet’s actual relationship to this ruler is unclear, because no panegyrics directly addressed to him by Sanāʾī have been preserved. As a matter of fact, no reliable biographical data outside the p…

(a.), poetry. 1. In Arabic. (a) The pre-modern period. It is the supreme ornament of Arab culture and its most authentically representative form of discourse. The ideas articulated by poetry and the emotional resonances which it conveys earn it, even in the present day, where numerous new literary forms are in competition with it, the approval of scholars and the populace alike. Despite the phonetic resemblance, s̲h̲iʿr is totally unconnected with the Hebrew s̲h̲īr , the ʿayn is a “hard” consonant which persists in the roots common to the two langu…

, Abu ’l-Ḥasan ʿAlī b. Aḥmad , Persian mystic who died on the 10th Muḥarram 425/5th December 1033 at the age of 73. The nisba refers to the village of K̲h̲araḳān situated in the mountains to the north of Bisṭām on the road to Astarābād (modern Gurgān). There are several variants for the vocalisation of this place-name even in the early sources for the life of this mystic. This confusion may very well be the result of the existence of other place names with the same consonant outline, such as K̲h̲a…

(A.), a term in rhetoric, means "trope" and, more generally, the use of a word ¶ deviating from its original meaning and use, its opposite being ḥaḳīḳa ("veritative expression"). In Arabic literature. The different modes of expression labelled as mad̲j̲āz by the Arabic theorists were divided into twelve categories by Fak̲h̲r al-Dīn al-Rāzī (d. 606/1210) without, however, following a consistent system of criteria (cf. al-Suyūṭī, Muzhir , ed. Cairo 1282, i, 171). A more refined and detailed version of this classifying system was put forward by al-Suyūṭī (d. 911/1505) ( Itḳān …

(a.), the name of apoem written in rhyming couplets. 1. In Arabic literature, see muzdawid̲j̲ . 2. In Persian. According to the prosodist S̲h̲ams-i-Ḳays (7th/13th ¶ century), the name refers to “a poem based on independent, internally rhyming lines ( abyāt-i mustaḳill-i muṣarraʿ ). The Persians call it mat̲h̲nawī because each line requires two rhyming letters— This kind ( nawʿ ) is used in extensive narratives and long stories which cannot easily be treated of in poems with one specific rhyming letter” ( al-Muʿd̲j̲am , ed. Tehran 1338/1959, 418f.). The fir…

, a popular story in mediaeval Islamic literature. 1. In Persian literature. The Biblical story of Joseph and Potiphar’s wife, who later received the name of Zulayk̲h̲ā, entered into Persian literature mainly through Arabic sources, consisting first of Sūrat Yūsuf (XII) of the Ḳurʾān, and then of commentaries on this “most beautiful of stories” and traditions on the lives of ancient Prophets ( ḳiṣaṣ al-anbiyāʾ [ q.v.]). The many additions to the story as it was told in the holy scriptures were derived from the Hebrew Midrash and Christian works in Syriac (cf. …

(a.), literally, “freeing oneself, escaping from (something)”, a technical term of literary usage. 1. In literary form. Here, it is the transition from the introduction [see nasīb ] of the polythematic ḳaṣīda [ q.v.] to subsequent themes, esp. the panegyric section. Often called k̲h̲urūd̲j̲ “exit”, it may be abrupt, without any attempt at preparing what follows, or effected brusquely with formulas such as daʿ d̲h̲ā “leave this (and speak on something else)”. From ʿAbbāsid times onwards, poets and critics favoured t…

(a.), “scene”, increasingly employed as “theatre” (in the same sense as “Bühne” in German); frequently synonymous with tiyātrō (from the Italian). 1. In the Arab East. Primarily an artistic and literary phenomenon of the last two centuries, the Arab theatre has its roots in local performances of passion plays [see taʿziya ], marionette and shadow plays [see ḳaragöz ], mimicry and other popular farces, and was affected by the then contemporary (rather than the classical) foreign theatre as well. Although some popular open-air plays…

, or Taḳī al-Dīn Muḥammad al-Ḥusaynī al-Awḥadī, Persian anthologist, lexicographer and poet. He was born at Iṣfahān on 3 Muḥarram 973/31 January 1565, into a family with a Ṣūfī tradition from Balyān in Fārs. One of his paternal ancestors was the 5th/11th-century S̲h̲ayk̲h̲ Abū ʿAlī al-Daḳḳāḳ. During his adolescence he studied in S̲h̲īrāz, where he presented his early poems to a circle of poets and was encouraged by ʿUrfī [ q.v.]. Returning to Iṣfahān, he attracted the attention of the young S̲h̲āh ʿAbbās I and joined his entourage. In 1003/1594-5, Taḳī retired for six years to the ʿatabāt …

, the pen-name of a Persian poet who lived at the end of the 4th/11th and the beginning of the 5th/12th century. His personal name as well as almost any other particulars of his life are unknown. The Tard̲j̲umān al-balāg̲h̲a has preserved an elegy by Labībī on the death of Farruk̲h̲ī [ q.v.], which means that the former was probably still alive in 429/1037-8. A ḳaṣīda attributed to him by ʿAwfī is addressed to a mamdūḥ by the name of Abu ’l-Muẓaffar, who in that source is identified with a younger brother of the G̲h̲aznavid Sultan Maḥmūd. But it i…

, surname of the Persian historian G̲h̲iyāt̲h̲ al-Dīn who was born ca. 880/1475 into a family of high officials and scholars. His father, K̲h̲wād̲j̲a Humām al-Dīn Muḥammad b. K̲h̲wād̲j̲a D̲j̲alāl al-Dīn Muḥammad b. K̲h̲wad̲j̲a Burhān al-Dīn Muḥammad S̲h̲īrāzī, was for many years the minister of Sulṭān Maḥmūd b. Abī Saʿīd, who at the end of his political career became the Tīmūrid ruler of Samarḳand from 899-900/1494-5. The historian Mirkhwānd [ q.v.] was his maternal uncle and took an important part in his primary education. It is, therefore, likely that K̲h̲wāndamīr was actually bor…

, the familiar form of the name of S̲h̲ams al-Dīn Muḥammad b. Ḳays Rāzī, author of the oldest Persian work on poetics, al-Muʿd̲j̲am fī maʿāyīr as̲h̲ʿār al-ʿad̲j̲am , which covers the full range of traditional literary scholarship. Facts about his life are only to be found in his own statements, mostly in the introduction to his sole surviving work ( Muʿd̲j̲am , 2-24). His native town was Rayy, where he must have been born around the beginning of the last quarter of the 12th century. For many years he lived in Transoxania, K̲h̲wārazm and Ḵh̲urāsān. He relates an incident situated in Buk…

, Ḥakīm Saʿd al-Dīn b. S̲h̲ams al-Dīn b. Muḥammad, Persian poet, born 645/1247-8 in Bīrd̲j̲and [ q.v.], where he died in 720/1320-1. The name Nizārī was not only his nomde-guerre as a poet, but also seems to indicate the loyalty of his family to Nizār [ q.v.], the pretender to the Fāṭimid imāmate in the late 5th/11th century whose claim was supported by most Persian Ismāʿilīs. Reliable facts concerning his life can only be deduced from his own works. According to Borodin, followed by Rypka, he would have been attached to the court of the Kart [ q.v.] Maliks of Herāt, but Bayburdi identified…

(also known in the Arabicised form Marzubān-nāma ), a work in Persian prose containing a variety of short stories used as moral examples and bound together by one major and several minor framework stories. It is essentially extant in two versions written in elegant Persian with many verses and phrases in Arabic. They were made from a lost original in the Ṭabarī dialect independently of each other in the early 13th century. The oldest version, entitled Rawḍat al-ʿuḳūl , was completed in 598/1202 by Muḥammad b. G̲h̲āzī al-Malaṭyawī (or Malaṭī) and was …