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, pseudonyme d’un poète persan qui vécut à la fin du IVe/Xe siècle et au début du Ve/XIe. Son nom réel et presque tous les événements de sa vie sont inconnus. Le Tard̲j̲umān al-balāg̲h̲a a conservé une élégie de Labībī sur la mort de Farrūk̲h̲ī [ q.v.], ce qui signifie que le premier était probablement encore en vie en 429/1037-8. Une ḳasīda qui lui est attribuée par ʿAwfī est adressée à un mamdūḥ du nom d’Abù l-Muẓaffar, identifié dans cette source à un frère cadet du sultan Mahmūd de G̲h̲aznā, mais il est plus vraisemblable qu’il s’agit d’un membre des Āl-i Muḥtād…

, Ḥamīd al-dīn Aḥmad b. ʿAbd Allāh, important dāʿī des Fāṭimides sous le règne d’al-Ḥākim bi-amr Allāh (386-411/996-1021), et auteur de nombreux ouvrages sur la théorie de l’imāmat et la philosophie ismāʿīlienne. De la vie d’al-Kirmāni, on ne connaît que les grandes lignes grâce à ce qu’il en dit dans ses propres écrits; quelques détails supplémentaires peuvent être tirés de sources ismāʿīliennes inédites, comme l’a fait notamment Muṣṭafā G̲h̲ālib (introd. à la Rāḥat al-ʿaḳl, 41 sq.) qui ne les précise cependant pas. Sa nisba indique qu’il est originaire de la province iranien…

(interprétation la plus probable des consonnes mhsty pour lesquelles d’autres lectures, comme Mahistī, Mahsitī ou Mihistī, ont été proposées; voir F. Meier, 43 sqq.) poétesse persane dont la personnalité historique est difficile à saisir. Elle doit avoir vécu à une époque située entre le début du Ve/XIe siècle et le milieu du VIe/XIIe. Les sources les plus anciennes la placent dans l’entourage de Maḥmūd de G̲h̲azna ou du sultan sald̲j̲ūḳide Sand̲j̲ar ou encore d’un roi légendaire de Gand̲j̲a en Ad̲h̲arbayd̲j̲ān. Le qualificatif de dabīr ou dabīra est souvent lié à son nom, mais …

(p.), le style indien, est le troisième terme d’une classification de la littérature persane en trois périodes stylistiques. Les autres termes, sabk-i k̲h̲urāsānī (appelé à l’origine sabk-i turkistānī) et sabk-i ʿīrāḳī, s’appliquent respectivement aux régions orientale et occidentale de la Perse médiévale. La conception sous-jacente à cette terminologie implique que le glissement du centre de l’activité littéraire d’une région à l’autre, récurrent depuis le IVe/Xe siècle, s’accompagnait d’une évolution stylistique, notamment en poésie. En gros, il s’est agi …

(ou S̲h̲abustarī, selon des écrivains modernes en azéri), s̲h̲ayk̲h̲ Saʿd al-dīn, mystique et écrivain persan. Il naquit à S̲h̲abistar, petite ville proche de la rive Nord-est du Lac d’Urmiya, à une date inconnue, qui pourrait cependant être fixée aux alentours de 686/1287-8 si l’on admet qu’il mourut à 33 ans ainsi que le mentionne une inscription figurant sur une pierre tombale érigée au XIXe siècle sur sa sépulture. Il aurait mené la vie d’un éminent savant religieux à Tabrīz. Des voyages en Égypte, en Syrie et au Ḥid̲j̲āz sont cités dans l’introduction du Saʾādat-nāma. Il aurait éga…

(a.) «roi des poètes», titre honorifique donné (également sous d’autres formes) à un poète lauréat persan. C’était la plus haute distinction qui pût être décernée à un poète par un protecteur royal. Comme d’autres titres honorifiques [voir Laḳab], il confirmait le statut de son bénéficiaire au sein de sa profession et était considéré comme une addition permanente à son nom qui pouvait même parfois devenir un titre héréditaire. A un niveau moins élevé, se situait le privilège, accordé parfois à des poètes de cour, de choisir un pseudonyme [voir Tak̲h̲alluṣ] fondé sur le nom ou sur l’un des la…

(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…

, 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…

, 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…

, 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…

, 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…

, the tak̲h̲alluṣ or pen-name of a Turkish translator and commentator of Persian literary works who flourished in the second half of the 10th/16th century. In his own works and in most of the biographical sources only this name is mentioned. B. Dorn, referring to “two manuscripts” of Ḥād̲j̲d̲j̲ī K̲h̲alīfa, asserted that he was properly called Muṣṭafā Darwīs̲h̲. Even more uncertain is the name S̲h̲emʿ-Allāh Perzennī which Bursali̊ Meḥmed Ṭāhir attributed to him; this was based perhaps on the confusion with another S̲h̲emʿī, a Ṣūfī poet from the town of Prizren [ q.v.], or Perzerīn, who …

, or Dāstān-i Ḳahramān , a popular romance in prose, several versions of which are known in both Persian and Turkish. It belongs to a series of prose works which develop themes from the Iranian epic tradition, embellishing them with fabulous touches borrowed from folk literature. Like the Hūs̲h̲ang-nāma , the Ṭahmūrat̲h̲-nāma and the Ḳiṣṣa-i Ḏj̲ams̲h̲īd . the story takes place in the earliest period of the legendary history of Iran, the times of the pis̲h̲dādīyān . The central hero is Kahramān, nicknamed Ḳātil, “the slayer”. His name is in fact a c…

, ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn ʿAlī b. Mad̲j̲d al-Dīn Muḥammad al-Bisṭāmī (or al-Harawī), Persian scholar and theologian, was born in 803/1400-1 at S̲h̲āhrūd near Bisṭām as a descendant of the famous theologian Fak̲h̲r al-Dīn al-Rāzī [ q.v.]. The nickname muṣannifak (“the little writer”) was probably given to him “in allusion to his youthful productivity as a writer” (Storey). He studied at Harāt and continued to live in Eastern Persia until 848/1444 when he travelled to Anatolia. While he was teaching at Ḳonya, his hearing d…

, muḥammad s̲h̲arīf b. s̲h̲ams al-dīn al-s̲h̲īrāzī ( ca. 1001/1592-after 1063/1653), a Persian prosewriter and poet with the tak̲h̲alluṣ Kās̲h̲if (the forms Kās̲h̲if-i Kumayt, cf. Rosen, loc. cit., and S̲h̲arīfā Kās̲h̲if, cf. Tad̲h̲kira-i Naṣrābādī in the synopsis by A. Sprenger, Cat. Oudh , 91, are also mentioned). He lived in Iṣfahān and later in Ray, where he was a ḳāḍī for 15 years. His brothers Ismāʿīl Munṣif and Muḳīma were also known as poets. Only two works by Kās̲h̲if seem to have survived. Both deal with ethical questions…

(p.), the Indian style, is the third term of a classification of Persian literature into three stylistic periods. The other terms, sabk-i Ḵh̲urāsānī (initially also called sabk-i Turkistānī ) and sabk-i ʿIrāḳī , refer respectively to the eastern and the western parts of mediaeval Persia. The assumption underlying this geographical terminology is that the shifts of the centre of literary activity from one area to another, which took place repeatedly since the 4th/10th century, were paralleled by a stylisti…

(the most probable interpretation of the consonants mhsty , for which other forms, like Mahistī, Mahsitī or Mihistī, have been proposed as well; cf. Meier, 43 ff.) a Persian female poet whose historical personality is difficult to ascertain. She must have lived at some time between the early 5th/11th and the middle of the 6th/12th century. The earliest sources situate her alternatively in the environment of Maḥmūd of G̲h̲azna, of the Sald̲j̲ūḳ Sultan Sand̲j̲ar, or of a legendary king of Gand̲j̲a in Ād̲h̲arbāyd̲j̲ān. The qualification dabīr or dabīra is often …