Table of Contents

  • ABŪ DOLAF ʿEJLĪ

    F. M. Donner

    Arab military chieftain, author, poet, governor, and boon companion for several ʿAbbasid caliphs, and most important member of the ʿEǰlī dynasty of western Iran, flourished in the early 3rd/9th century.

  • ABŪ ʿEKREMA

    D. M. Dunlop

    a freedman of Banū Ḥamdān, regarded as the first ʿAbbasid propagandist in Khorasan.

  • ABŪ ESḤĀQ AL-ŠĪRĀZĪ

    W. Madelung

    Shafeʿite jurist, b. 393/1003 in Fīrūzābād in Fār.

  • ABŪ ESḤĀQ AṬʿEMA

    Cross-Reference

    (d. 1420s) satirical poet who used Persian culinary vocabulary and imagery and kitchen terminology to create a novel style of poetry. See BOSḤĀQ AṬʿEMA.

  • ABŪ ESḤĀQ EBRĀHĪM

    C. E. Bosworth

    governor of Ḡazna in eastern Afghanistan on behalf of the Samanids (352/963-355/966).

  • ABŪ ESḤĀQ ĪNJŪ

    J. W. Limbert

    (721-58/1321-59), ruler of Fārs, ʿErāq ʿAǰam (Isfahan), and parts of southern Iran, 743-55/1343-54.

  • ABŪ ESḤĀQ KĀZARŪNĪ

    B. Lawrence

    Sufi and eponymous founder of the Kāzarūnīya/Esḥāqīya order.

  • ABŪ ESḤĀQ NAẒẒĀM

    J. van Ess

    famous adīb and Muʿtazilite theologian.

  • ABŪ ESḤĀQ ŠĀMĪ

    Mutiul Imam

    founder and eminent early saint of the Češtī order (3rd-4th/9th-10th century).

  • ABŪ ḤAFṢ ḤADDĀD

    J. Chabbi

    an ascetic who was born and lived in Nīšāpūr, d. between 265/874 and 270/879.

  • ABŪ ḤAFṢ SOḠDĪ

    Dj. Khaleghi-Motlagh

    one of the so-called “first poets” in New Persian.

  • ABŪ ḤĀMED TORKA

    Fazlur Rahman

    scholar and author of the late 7th/13th and early 8th/14th centuries, the first in a line of prominent men of the Torka-ye Eṣfahānī family.

  • ABŪ ḤAMZA ḴORĀSĀNĪ

    B. Reinert

    (d. 290/903), Sufi born and active in Nīšāpūr.

  • ABŪ ḤANĪFA

    U. F. ʿAbd-Allāh

    (80-150/699-767), eponym of the Ḥanafī school of Islamic law—the largest of the four primary Sunni schools of law

  • ABŪ ḤANĪFA ESKĀFĪ

    Cross-Reference

    See ESKĀFĪ, ABŪ ḤANĪFA.

  • ABŪ HĀŠEM ʿABDALLĀH

    T. Nagel

     ʿAlid figure in Shiʿite tradition.

  • ABŪ ḤĀTEM RĀZĪ

    H. Halm

    Ismaʿili dāʿī (missionary) and author of the 4th/10th century.

  • ABŪ ḤAYYĀN TAWḤĪDĪ

    W. M. Watt

    an outstanding man of letters and essayist of the Buyid period.

  • ABŪ ʿĪSĀ EṢFAHĀNĪ

    J. Lassner

    founder of the ʿĪsāwīya, an obscure Jewish sect in Islamic times.

  • ABŪ ʿĪSĀ WARRĀQ

    W. M. Watt

    heretical theologian of the 3rd/9th century.

  • ABŪ JAʿFAR B. AḤMAD

    D. Pingree

    mid- to late 3rd/9th century astronomer, son of a famous astronomer from Marv.

  • ABŪ JAʿFAR ḴĀZEN

    D. Pingree

    astronomer (ca. 287/900-probably 360/970).

  • ABŪ ḴĀLĪJĀR ʿEMĀD-AL-DĪN MARZBĀN

    Cross-Reference

    See ʿEMĀD-AL-DĪN MARZBĀN.

  • ABŪ KĀLĪJĀR GARŠĀSP (I)

    C. E. Bosworth

    second son of the Kakuyid amir of Jebāl, ʿAlāʾ-al-dawla Moḥammad b. Došmanzīār, ruled in Hamadān and parts of what are now Kurdistan and Luristan, 433-37/1041-42 to 1045, d. 443/1051-52.

  • ABŪ KĀLĪJĀR GARŠĀSP (II)

    C. E. Bosworth

    member of the Dailamite dynasty of the Kakuyids (d. 536/1141?).

  • ABŪ LOʾLOʾA

    Ch. Pellat

    a Persian slave of Moḡīra b. Šoʿba, the governor of Baṣra, who assassinated the caliph ʿOmar b. al-Ḵaṭṭāb, on Wednesday, 26 Ḏu’l-ḥeǰǰa 23/2 November 644.

  • ABŪ MANṢŪR ʿABD-AL-RAZZĀQ

    Dj. Khaleghi-Motlagh

    dehqān (landowner) of Ṭūs, official under the Samanids, and patron of a lost prose Šāh-nāma (Šāh-nāma-ye Abū Manṣūrī).

  • ABŪ MANṢŪR FARĀMARZ

    C. E. Bosworth

    eldest son of the Kakuyid amir of Jebāl, ʿAlāʾ-al-dawla Moḥammad b. Došmanzīār.

  • ABŪ MANṢŪR HERAVĪ

    L. Richter-Bernburg

    (fl. ca. 370-80/980-90), author of the oldest preserved Persian text on materia medicaKetāb al-abnīa ʿan ḥaqāʾeq al-adwīa.

  • ABŪ MANṢŪR MAʿMARĪ

    Dj. Khalegi-Motlagh

    minister (dastūr) of Abū Manṣūr b. ʿAbd-al-Razzāq (d. 350/961), a military commander of Khorasan under the Samanids.

  • ABŪ MANṢŪR ṬŪSĪ

    D. Pingree

    mathematician.

  • ABŪ MAʿŠAR

    D. Pingree

    astronomer and astrologer, born in Balḵ on 20 Ṣafar 171/10 August 787. 

  • ABŪ MOSLEM EṢFAHĀNĪ

    Wilferd Madelung

    secretary, official, man of letters, and Muʿtazilite Koran commentator, b. 254/868, probably in Isfahan.

  • ABŪ MOSLEM ḴORĀSĀNĪ

    Ḡ. Ḥ. Yūsofī

    prominent leader in the ʿAbbasid cause. 

  • ABŪ MOṬĪʿ AL-BALḴĪ

    L. A. Giffen

    faqīh, judge, and traditionist, disciple of Abū Ḥanīfa, died 183/799 in Balḵ.

  • ABŪ MŪSĀ AŠʿARĪ

    G. R. Hawting

    a Companion of the Prophet and important participant in the troubles which occupied the caliphate of ʿAlī. 

  • ABU MUSĀ i - ii

    E. Ehlers

    island in the Persian Gulf.

  • ABU MUSĀ iii

    Guive Mirfendereski

    (Bu Musā), a small island in the eastern Persian Gulf (25°52′ N, 55°2′ E).

  • ABŪ MŪSĀ MORDĀR

    J. van Ess

    theologian and ascetic, early representative of the Baghdad branch of the Moʿtazela (d. 226/840-41).

  • ABŪ NAṢR AḤMAD

    C. E. Bosworth

    Samanid amir in Transoxania and Khorasan (295-301/907-14).

  • ABŪ NAṢR AL-ESMĀʿĪLĪ

    W. M. Watt

    an alleged teacher of Abū Ḥāmed Ḡazālī (450-505/1058-1111).

  • ABŪ NAṢR FĀMĪ

    C. E. Bosworth

    (472-546/1079-1151), local historian of Herat in the Saljuq period.

  • ABŪ NAṢR FĀRĀBĪ

    Cross-Reference

    See FĀRĀBĪ, ABŪ NAṢR.

  • ABŪ NAṢR FĀRSĪ

    C. E. Bosworth

    Official, soldier and poet of the Ghaznavid empire, flourished in the second half of the 5th/11th century during the reigns of the sultans Ebrāhīm b. Masʿūd I and Masʿūd III b. Ebrāhīm.

  • ABŪ NAṢR MANṢŪR

    D. Pingree

    mathematician and astronomer, born probably in Gīlān about 349/960.

  • ABŪ NAṢR MOŠKĀN

    H. Moayyad

    head of the Ghaznavid chancery under Maḥmūd and Masʿūd from 401/1011-12 till his death in 431/1039-40.

  • ABŪ NAṢR MOSTAWFĪ

    K. A. Luther

    well-known official of the Saljuqs of Iraq.

  • ABŪ NAṢR ʿOTBĪ

    Cross-Reference

    See ʿOTBĪ, ABŪ NAṢR.

  • ABŪ NOʿAYM AL-EṢFAHĀNĪ

    W. Madelung

    famous traditionist and author of the collection of Sufi biographies Ḥelyat al-awlīāʾ.

  • ABŪ ʿOBAYDA MAʿMAR

    C. E. Bosworth

    Arabic philologist and grammarian (probably 110-209/728-824, but the sources have other, slightly different dates).

  • ABŪ ʿOṮMĀN RABĪʿA

    L. A. Giffen

    often called RABĪʿAT-AL-RAʾY, important lawyer of the ancient school of Medina and transmitter of Traditions from Companions of the Prophet, died 136/753. 

  • ABŪ RAJĀʾ ḠAZNAVĪ

    Cross-Reference

    See ḠAZNAVĪ, ABŪ RAJĀʾ.

  • ABŪ RAŠĪD NĪSĀBŪRĪ

    D. W. Madelung

    Muʿtazilite scholar. He was probably born not later than 360/970.

  • ABŪ SAʿD TOSTARĪ

    S. D. Goitein

    businessman and quasi-vizier in Fatimid Egypt, d. 439/1047.

  • ABŪ SAHL ḤAMDOWĪ

    Ḡ. Ḥ. Yūsofī

    Ghaznavid official of the 4th-5th/11th century.

  • ABŪ SAHL ḴOJANDĪ

    C. E. Bosworth

    vizier of the Ghaznavids in the 5th/11th century. 

  • ABŪ SAHL KŪHĪ

    D. Pingree

    (also QŪHĪ), mathematician and astronomer.

  • ABŪ SAHL LAKŠAN

    Ḡ. Ḥ. Yūsofī

     official under the Ghaznavid amirs Maḥmūd (388-421/998-1030) and Masʿūd (421-32/1031-41).

  • ABŪ SAHL NAWBAḴT

    D. Pingree

    2nd/8th century astrologer and author.  

  • ABŪ SAHL NAWBAḴTĪ

    W. Madelung

    a prominent member of the Nawbaḵtī family and noted Imamite leader and scholar.

  • ABŪ SAHL ZŪZANĪ

    Ḡ. Ḥ. Yūsofī

    courtier and official under the Ghaznavid amirs Maḥmūd (388-421/998-1030) and Masʿūd (421-32/1031-41), d. ca. 440-50/1050-59.

  • ABŪ SAʿĪD ABI’L-ḴAYR

    G. Böwering

    famous Iranian mystic, born 1 Moḥarram 357/7 December 967 at Mēhana, a small town in Khorasan, about fifty miles west of Saraḵs, and died there 4 Šaʿbān 440/12 January 1049.

  • ABŪ SAʿĪD BAHĀDOR KHAN

    P. Jackson

    ninth Il-khan of Iran, the son and successor of Öljeitü (Ūlǰāytū).

  • ABŪ SAʿĪD JANNĀBĪ

    W. Madelung

    founder of the Qarmaṭī state in Baḥrain (b. between 230/845, and 240/855, d. 300/913 or 301/913-14). 

  • ABŪ SAʿĪD KHAN

    Y. Bregel

    cousin of Šaybānī Khan and great-grandson of Uluḡ Beg in the female line, khan of the Uzbeks of Transoxania (936-40/1530-33).  

  • ABŪ ŠAKŪR BALḴĪ

    G. Lazard

    poet of the Samanid period.

  • ABŪ SALAMA ḴALLĀL

    R. W. Bulliet

    head of the Hashemite propaganda organization (daʿwa) that sparkled the ʿAbbasid revolution and first vizier of the new dynasty. 

  • ABŪ ṢĀLEḤ MANṢŪR

    C. E. Bosworth

    Samanid prince, the cousin of the amir Aḥmad b. Esmāʿīl (295-301/907-14) and uncle of his successor Naṣr b. Aḥmad (301-31/914-43).

  • ABŪ ṢĀLEḤ MANṢŪR (I) NŪḤ

    C. E. Bosworth

    (350-66/961-76), Samanid ruler in Transoxania and Khorasan and successor of his brother ʿAbd-al-Malek after the latter’s death in Šawwāl, 350/November, 961.

  • ABŪ SALĪK GORGĀNĪ

    M. N. Osmanov

    Persian poet, contemporary of ʿAmr b. Layṯ the Saffarid (265-88/879-901). 

  • ABŪ ŠOʿAYB HERAVĪ

    J. W. Clinton

    or BŪ ŠOʿAYB as he is more commonly known, one of the many poets of the Samanid court which has survived virtually in name only.

  • ABŪ ŠOJĀʿ EṢFAHĀNĪ

    H. Halm

    (434-500/1042-43 to 1106, Shafeʿite jurist. 

  • ABŪ ŠOJĀʿ FANĀ ḴOSROW

    Cross-Reference

    See ʿAŻOD-AL-DAWLA.

  • ABŪ ṬĀHER

    O. Watson

    Far from the works of the son following close upon those of the father, the gap between known works of the first generation is twenty-eight years, and between the second generations, forty-two years. Late marriage and long apprenticeships may be the explanation. 

    This Article Has Images/Tables.
  • ABŪ ṬĀHER B. MOḤAMMAD

    Cross-Reference

    See ATĀBAKĀN-E LORESTĀN.

  • ABŪ ṬĀHER ḴĀTŪNĪ

    Dj. Khaleghi-Motlagh

    officer, famous poet, and author in the reign of the Saljuq Sultan Moḥammad b. Malekšāh (498-511/1105-18).

  • ABŪ TAHER ḴOSRAVĀNĪ

    M. Dabīrsīāqī

    a poet of the Samanid period.

  • ABŪ ṬĀHER SAMARQANDĪ

    M. Zand

    author of a book named Ṯamarīya (first half of the 13th/19th century).

  • ABŪ ṬĀLEB ḤOSAYNĪ

    Hameed ud-Din

    Mughal scholar chiefly famous for his alleged discovery of Malfūẓāt-e Tīmūrī or Wāqeʿāt-e Tīmūrī, an autobiographical account of Tīmūr from the 7th to the 74th year of his life.

  • ABŪ ṬĀLEB KALĪM

    Cross-Reference

    (b. ca. 1581-85; d. 1651), Persian poet and one of the leading exponents of the “Indian style” (sabk-e hendi). See KALĪM KĀŠĀNI.

  • ABŪ ṬĀLEB KHAN LANDANĪ

    M. Baqir

    Official and author in British India (18th-19th century).

  • ABU ṬĀLEB TABRIZI

    ʿA. Kārang

    Poet and physician whose pen name was Ṭāleb (d. 1015/1606-07).

  • ABŪ TORĀB NAḴŠABĪ

    B. Radtke

    noted 3rd/9th century ascetic.

  • ABŪ TORĀB WALĪ

    S. Moinul Haq

    noble in the service of Akbar and author of Tārīḵ-e Goǰrāt, a short history of that province from the reign of Bahādor Shah (932-43/1526-36), with an account of his wars against Homāyūn, through Akbar’s conquest and up to 992/1584.

  • ABU YAʿQUB HAMADĀNI

    H. Algar

    Important figure in the history of Iranian and Central Asian Sufism, largely neglected by both Iranian and Western scholarship (440-535/1048-49 to 1140).

  • ABŪ YAʿQŪB JORJĀNĪ

    J. van Ess

    disciple of Ebn Karrām (d. 255/869).  

  • ABŪ YAʿQŪB SEJESTĀNĪ

    P. E. Walker

    one of the most important of the early Ismaʿili dāʿīs.

  • ABU YAZĪD BESṬĀMI

    Cross-Reference

    See BESṬĀMĪ, BĀYAZĪD.

  • ABŪ YŪSOF QAZVINI

    W. Madelung

    Muʿtazilite scholar and author of an immense Koran commentary, born Šaʿbān, 393/June, 1003 (according to another report 391) in Qazvīn.

  • ABŪ ZAYD B. MOḤAMMAD KĀŠĀNĪ

    O. Watson

    perhaps the single most important luster potter of Kāšān known to us. More signed and dated works (from 587/1191 to 616/1219) are known by him than by any other potter, and his signature occurs on a greater variety of wares, including both tiles and vessels.

  • ABŪ ZAYD BALḴĪ

    W. M. Watt

    noted scholar in both Islamic and philosophical disciplines, but now known chiefly as a geographer. He was born in the village of Šāmestīān, near Balḵ in Khorasan, ca. 235/849 and died there in Ḏu’l-qaʿda, 322/October, 934. 

  • ABŪ ZAYD KĀŠĀNĪ

    O. Watson

    a potter who signed a ceramic bowl in the enameled (mīnāʾī) technique dated 4 Moḥarram 582/26 March 1186.

  • ABŪ ZAYN KAḤḤĀL

    L. Richter-Bernburg

    author of the medical text Šarāyeṭ-e ǰarrāḥī; its dedication to the Timurid Šāhroḵ (r. 807-50/1404-47) provides the only context for his life.

  • ABU’L-QĀSEM EBRĀHĪM ḤAṢĪRĪ

    Cross-Reference

    Shafeʿite faqīh (jurist) and Ghaznavid official, d. 424/1033. See ABŪ BAKR ḤAṢĪRĪ.

  • ABŪZAYDĀBĀD

    E. Yarshater

    Oasis village of the province of Kāšān, called Būzābād for short and Bīzeva in the local dialect. It is situated 30 km to the east and slightly to the south of the city of Kāšān.

  • ABŪZAYDĀBĀDĪ

    E. Yarshater

    (Būzābādī for short), a variety of the local dialects of Kāšān province, spoken in the village of Abūzaydābād and its farms, and belonging to the Central or Median group of Iranian dialects.

  • ABU’L-ʿABBĀS ʿANBARĪ

    Cross-Reference

    See ʿANBARĪ.

  • ABU’L-ʿABBĀS MARVAZĪ

    Dj. Khaleghi-Motlagh

    Sufi, jurist, and traditionist, one of the first poets to write in New Persian. 

  • ABU’L-ʿALĀʾ ʿAṬĀʾ

    C. E. Bosworth

    secretary and poet of the Ghaznavid period, d. 491/1098.

  • ABU’L-ʿALĀʾ GANJAVĪ

    Ż. Sajjādi

    6th/12th century poet at the court of Ḵāqān Faḵr-al-dīn Manūčehr Šervānšāh.