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1. For all practical purposes the term Abk̲h̲āz or Afk̲h̲āz , in early Muslim sources covers Georgia and Georgians (properly Ḏj̲urzān , q.v.). The reason (cf. below under 2.) is that a dynasty issued from Abk̲h̲āzia ruled in Georgia at the time of the early ʿAbbāsids. A distinction between the Abk̲h̲ăzian dynasty and the Georgian rulers on the upper Kur is made by al-Masʿūdī, ii, 65, 74. The people properly called Abk̲h̲āz is possibly referred to only in the tradition represented by Ibn Rusta, 139: , read * Awg̲h̲az , see Marquart, Streifzüge , 164-76, and Ḥudūd al-ʿĀlam …

, Nad̲j̲af Ḳulī Ḵh̲ān, a Bak̲h̲tiyārī chief born about 1846. His father was Ḥusayn Ḳulī Ḵh̲ān, more commonly known as Īlk̲h̲ānī, the first Bak̲h̲tiyārī leader to be formally designated Īlk̲h̲ān of all the Bak̲h̲tiyārī by the imperial government in Tehran, and who was poisoned on the orders of prince Ẓill al-Sulṭān, the famous governor-general of Iṣfāhān, who feared his growing power. Ṣamṣām al-Salṭana was Īlbeg of the Bak̲h̲tiyārī in 1903-5 and later Īlk̲h̲ān. He is remembered principally for the part he played as one of the leaders of the Bak̲h̲tiyārī intervention …

(the contracted form Rāmiz , Rāmuz is found as early as the 4th/10th century), a town and district in K̲h̲ūzistān [ q.v.] in southwestern Persia. Rām-Hurmuz lies about 55 miles southeast of Ahwāz, 65 miles south-south-east of S̲h̲ūs̲h̲tar, and 60 miles north-east of Bihbihān. Ibn K̲h̲urradād̲h̲bih, 43, reckons it 17 farsak̲h̲ s from Ahwāz to Rām-Hurmuz and 22 farsak̲h̲s from Rām-Hurmuz to Arrad̲j̲ān. Ḳudāma, 194, who gives a more detailed list of stages, counts it 50 farsak̲h̲s from Wāsiṭ to Baṣra, thence 35 farsak̲h̲s to Ahwāz, thence 20 farsak̲h̲s to Rām-Hurmuz, and then 24 farsak̲h̲s …

, a province to the south of the Caspian Sea bounded on the west by Gīlān [ q. v.] and on the east by what was in Ḳad̲j̲ār times the province of Astarābād [ q.v., formerly Gurgān); Māzandarān and Gurgān now form the modern ustān or province of Māzandarān. 1. The name. If Gurgān to the Iranians was the "land of the wolves" ( vәhrkāna , the region to its west was peopled by "Māzaynian dēws" (Bartholomae, Altir . Wörterbuch , col. 1169, under māzainya daēva ). Darmesteter, Le Zend-Avesta , ii, 373, n. 32, thought that Māzandarān was a "comparative of direction" (* Mazana-tara ; c…

(older form Sāwad̲j̲, cf. the nisba Sāwad̲j̲ī, found at the side of Sāwī), a town of northern Persia some 125 km/80 miles to the southwest of Tehran (lat. 35° 00′ N., long. 50° 22′ E., altitude 960 m/3,149 feet). It was formerly on the Ḳazwīn-Ḳumm road used in mediaeval times but now replaced by the modern paved roads-system centred on Tehran, and on the main caravan and pilgrimage route from southwestern Persia a…

, a little town and district in ¶ southern Ād̲h̲arbayd̲j̲ān, on the right bank of the D̲j̲ag̲h̲ātū. the modern town of S̲h̲āhīn Diz̲h̲. In the south the boundary runs a little over the river Sāruḳ, a tributary on the right bank of the D̲j̲ag̲h̲ātū. In the north it is bounded by the district of ʿAd̲j̲arī, in the east by the province of K̲h̲amse. The name is derived from the Mongol sayin “good”. The local Turkish Afs̲h̲ar tribe, of which a part had to emigrate to Urmiya to make room for the Čārdawrī (Čārdowlī) tribe of Lur origin (the district of Čardawr on the Saymar…

or ḵh̲ilāṭ , town and fortress at the N.W. corner of Lake Wān. (i) In Armenian the town is called Ḵh̲latʿ, the name being possibly connected with the ancient inhabitants of the country, the Urartian Ḵh̲alds. It lies half-way between Sipan Dag̲h̲ and Nimrūd Dag̲h̲ on the route taken by invasions from Mesopotamia into eastern Armenia. Al-Balād̲h̲urī, 200, reckons it to Armenia III, which in the Arab view included Ḳālīḳalā (Erzerum), Ard̲j̲īs̲h̲ and Baḥunays (i.e. either Apahunikʿ, where Manāzgird lies, or Bznunikʿ, the district of Ak̲h̲lāṭ). Under ʿUmar, ʿIyāḍ b. G̲h̲anm made a tre…

, a small district of western Ād̲h̲arbāyd̲j̲ān in Persia, to the south-west of Lake Urmiya, on the lower course of the Gādir-čay, which here receives on its right bank the Bāyzāwa and Mamad-s̲h̲āh and flows into the Lake. To the west it is bordered by Us̲h̲nū, which lies on the upper course of the Gādir, from which it is separated by the Darband gorge through which the river runs; to the north it is bounded by the little district of Dōl (cf. Dōl-i Bārīk, in S̲h̲araf al-Dīn K̲h̲ān Bidlīsī, S̲h̲araf-nāma , St. Petersburg 1860-2, i, 288) belonging to Urmiya; to the…

or sinandad̲j̲ , older form sinna, the administrative capital of the modern Persian province of Kurdistān and the general name for the district round it. l. The town. The name Sinna came into historical prominence only from the 9th/15th century onwards, the main urban centre of the district having preciously been Sīsar [ q.v.], as the seat of the Kurdish wālīs or local rulers of Ardalān [ q.v.]. Under the year 988/1580, the 10th/16th century historian of the Kurds, S̲h̲araf al-Dīn K̲h̲ān Bidlīsī [ q.v.], speaks in his S̲h̲araf-nāma (ed. V. Véliaminof-Zernof, S…

, a Kurdish district of Persia lying between the Turkish frontier (modern il or province of Hakkâri) and the western shore of Lake Urmiya, hence falling within the modern Persian ustān or province of West Ād̲h̲arbāyd̲j̲ān. In Kurdish, sōmāy means “view” (cf. in Persian sūma “terminus, finis, scopus”, Vullers, ii, 352). To the north, Ṣōmāy is separated from the basin of the Zola Čay (S̲h̲epirān, Salmās [ q.v.]) by the mountains of Bere-dī, Und̲j̲ali̊ḳ and Ag̲h̲wān; on the east the canton of Anzal separates it from Lake Urmiya; to the south-east lies the S̲h̲ayk̲…

or ālind̲j̲a (in Armenian Ernd̲j̲ak, a district of the province Siunikʿ), now ruins within the Nak̲h̲ičewān territory of the Azerbayd̲j̲an Soviet Socialist Republic. The river Alind̲j̲a flows into the Araxes near Old Ḏj̲ulfa. The ancient fortress Alind̲j̲aḳ stood some 20 km. above its estuary on the right bank of the river, on the top of an extremely steep mountain (near the village Ḵh̲ānaḳā). The fortress played a considerable role at the Tīmūrid and Turkman period. (V. Minorsky) Bibliography V. Minorsky, Caucasica, JA, 1930, 93-4, 112.

, "Men of God", a secret religion prevalent mainly in western Persia. Ahl-i Ḥaḳḳ would seem to be a rather imprecise name for this sect, because it is used, for example, by the Ḥurūfīs (see Cl. Huart, Textes persans relatives à la secte des Ḥurūfī , 1909, 40), and because it has an affinity with such ṣūfī terms as Ahl-i Ḥaḳīḳa , a term which is also used by the Ahl-i Ḥaḳḳ. In the strict sense, however, Ahl-i Ḥaḳḳ is the name properly given to initiates of the religion described in the present article. The name ʿAlī Ilāhī [ q.v.] applied to them by their neighbours is an unsuitable title, beca…

, the name of a lake and of a town and district in western Ād̲h̲arbāyd̲j̲ān. 1. The lake Lake Urmiya, also called Daryā-yi S̲h̲āhī or, in the Pahlawī period, Daryā-yi Riḍāʾiyya or Lake Reza’iyeh, is the largest lake in the Middle East. It is about 140 km/87 miles long and from 40 km/25 miles to 56 km/35 miles wide and lies at an altitude of 1,275 km/4,183 feet. Its maximum depth is 16 m/53 feet, and the southern part of the lake contains numerous small islands, but most important is the mountainous S̲h̲āhī penins…