Table of Contents

  • ĀLČĪ

    D. O. Morgan

    (“sealer”), a Turkish term (from āl “red seal”) designating an il-khanid chancery official.

  • ALDANMIŠ KÄVAKEB

    S. Soucek

    Azeri Turkish title of a narrative by Āḵūndzāda (1812-78).

  • ʿĀLEMPUR, Moḥyi-al-Din

    Habib Borjian

    (Muhiddin Olimpur/Olimov), Tajik journalist, photographer, and intellectual figure who was instrumental in strengthening cultural ties among Persianate societies (1945-1995).

  • ALESSANDRI

    A. M. Piemontese

    (d. after 1595), Venetian secretary and diplomat, author of an important report on Safavid Persia.

  • ALEXANDER OF LYCOPOLIS

    G. Widengren

    apparently a Neoplatonic philosopher living in Egypt about 300 CE.

  • ALEXANDER THE GREAT

    P. Briant

    (356-323 B.C.). Ascending the throne of Macedonia on the assassination of his father Philip II in 336, Alexander quickly took up Philip’s grand scheme to land an army in Asia and “liberate the Greek cities from the Achaemenid yoke.” 

    This Article Has Images/Tables.
  • ALEXANDER THE GREAT ii. In Zoroastrian Tradition

    F. M. Kotwal and P. G. Kreyenbroek

    heritage of the Sasanian period includes two widely divergent storylines about Alexander, both of which were presumably transmitted by Zoroastrians and can therefore be labelled “Zoroastrian.”

  • ALEXANDER, PRINCE

    G. Bournoutian

    (known in Persian as ESKANDAR MĪRZĀ), pro-Persian member of the royal family of Georgia (b. 1770, d. after 1830).

  • ALEXANDRIA

    P. Leriche

    general designation of cities whose foundation is credited to Alexander the Great (356-23 B.C.).

  • ALEXANDROPOLIS

    P. Leriche

    name of a number of cities. According to certain historians, these cities were founded after Alexander’s death; others call some of these same cities Alexandria.

  • ALF LAYLA WA LAYLA

    Ch. Pellat

    “One thousand nights and one night,” Arabic title of the world-famous collection of tales known in English as The Arabian Nights

  • ALFARIC, PROSPER

    H. C. Puech

    (1876-1955), French historian of religions.  

  • ALFĪYA VA ŠALFĪYA

    Cross-Reference

    name given to illustrated books, in particular one by Azraqī, describing various kinds of sexual relationships between men and women. See AZRAQI.

  • ʿALĪ ʿAJAMĪ

    Cross-Reference

    See ʿALĪ, ḴᵛĀJA.

  • ʿALĪ AKBAR

    J. Calmard

    Imam Ḥosayn’s eldest son, killed at the age of 18, 19, or 25 at the battle of Karbalā on the day of ʿĀšūrā (10 Moḥarram 61/10 October 680).

  • ʿALĪ AKBAR ḤOSAYNĪ ARDESTĀNĪ

    K. A. Nizami

    Indo-Muslim taḏkera writer, remembered solely for his unpublished Maǰmaʿ al-awlīāʾ, an encyclopedia of Sufi saints compiled in 1043/1633-34 and dedicated to the Mughal emperor Shah Jahān (1037-68/1628-58).

  • ʿALĪ AKBAR ḴEṬĀʾĪ

    T. Yazici

    (15th-16th centuries), author of the Persian Ḵeṭāy-nāma or “Book of Cathay,” i.e., of China.

  • ʿALĪ AKBAR ŠAHMĪRZĀDĪ

    M. Momen

    known as Ḥāǰǰ Āḵund, a prominent Iranian Bahāʾī (b. 1842).

  • ʿALĪ AL-AʿLĀ

    H. Algar

    (d. 822/1419), also known as Amīr Sayyed ʿAlī, principal successor of Fażlallāh Astarābādī, founder of the Ḥorūfī sect.

  • ʿALĪ AL-HĀDĪ

    W. Madelung

    the 10th imam of the Emāmī Shiʿites (d. 254/868).

  • ʿALĪ AL-NAQĪ

    Cross-Reference

    IMAM. See ʿALĪ AL-HĀDĪ.

  • ʿALĪ AL-REŻĀ

    W. Madelung

    the eighth Imam of the Emāmī Shiʿites.

  • ʿALĪ ĀQĀ TABRĪZĪ, MIRZA

    Cross-Reference

    See ṮEQAT-AL-ESLĀM.

  • ʿALĪ AṢḠAR

    J. Calmard

    Imam Ḥosayn’s youngest son, killed at Karbalā (10 Moḥarram 61/10 October 680).

  • ʿALĪ AṢḠAR BORŪJERDĪ

    L. P. Elwell-Sutton

    author of several works including the ʿAqāʾed al-šīʿa, written in 1263/1874 and dedicated to Moḥammad Shah Qāǰār.

  • ʿALĪ AṢḠAR ČEŠTĪ

    K. A. Nizami

    Mughal hagiographer, chiefly known for his Jawāher-e Farīdī, compiled in 1033/1623 during the reign of Jahāngīr (1014-37/1605-27). 

  • ʿALĪ B. ʿABBĀS MAJŪSĪ

    L. Richter-Bernburg

    physician from Fārs and author of an Arabic work on medicine (d. /994 [?]); probably the most important medical writer between Rāzī and Ebn Sīnā.

  • ʿALĪ B. ʿABDALLĀH

    Cross-Reference

    See ʿALAWAYH AʿSAR.

  • ʿALĪ B. ABĪ ṬĀLEB

    I. K. Poonawala, E. Kohlberg

    (b. ca. 600, d. 40/661), cousin and son-in-law of the prophet Moḥammad, first Shiʿite Imam, father of the Imams Ḥasan and Ḥosayn by Fāṭema, and fourth caliph (35-40/656-61).

  • ʿALĪ B. AḤMAD BALḴĪ

    D. Pingree

    post-3rd/9th century astronomer.

  • ʿALĪ B. ASAD

    ʿA. Ḥabībī

    (second half of the 11th cent.), the amir of Badaḵšān to whom Nāṣer(-e) Ḵosrow dedicated his Jāmeʿ al-ḥekmatayn

  • ʿALĪ B. BŪYA

    Cross-Reference

    the eldest of three brothers who came to power in western Persia as military adventurers and founded the Buyid dynasty. See ʿEMĀD-AL-DAWLA.

  • ʿALĪ B. FARĀMARZ

    C. E. Bosworth

    member of the Deylamī dynasty of the Kakuyids (d. 1095).

  • ʿALĪ B. ḤĀMED

    cross-reference

    KŪFĪ. See ČĀČ-NĀMA.

  • ʿALĪ B. ḤARB

    C. E. Bosworth

    (or ʿAlī b. ʿOṯmān b. Ḥarb), ephemeral Saffarid amir of the so-called “third Saffarid dynasty”.

  • ʿALĪ B. ḤASAN

    cross-reference

    See ʿALĪTIGIN.

  • ʿALĪ B. ḤOSĀM-AL-DAWLA

    cross-reference

    ŠAHRĪĀR. See ʿALĀʾ-AL-DAWLA ʿALĪ.

  • ʿALĪ B. ḤOSAYN AL-ŠARĪF

    cross-reference

    AL-MORTAŻĀ. See ʿALAM-AL-HODĀ.

  • ʿALĪ B. ḤOSAYN ANṢĀRĪ

    cross-reference

    See ZAYN-AL-DĪN ʿAṬṬĀR.

  • ʿALĪ B. ḤOSAYN B. ʿALĪ B. ABĪ ṬĀLEB

    W. Madelung

    ZAYN-AL-ʿĀBEDĪN (d. ca. 712-13), the fourth Imam of the Emāmī Shiʿites.

  • ʿALĪ B. IL-ARSLAN QARĪB

    C. E. Bosworth

    or ḴᵛĪŠĀVAND, ZAʿĪM-AL-ḤOJJĀB, Turkish military commander of the early Ghaznavids Maḥmūd, Moḥammad and Masʿūd I.

  • ʿALĪ B. ʿĪSĀ B. DĀʾŪD

    D. Sourdel

     B. AL-JARRĀḤ (245-334/859-946), vizier during the reign of the caliph Moqtader (r. 908-32). His family was of Persian origin resident in Iraq.

  • ʿALĪ B. ʿĪSĀ B. MĀHĀN

    Ch. Pellat

    (d. 812), officer in the service of the ʿAbbasids.

  • ʿALĪ B. MAʾMŪN

    C. E. Bosworth

    ABU’L-ḤASAN, second Ḵᵛārazmšāh of the short-lived Maʾmunid dynasty in Ḵᵛārazm (r. 997-ca. 1008-09).

  • ʿALĪ B. MASʿŪD

    C. E. Bosworth

    [I], BAHĀʾ-AL-DAWLA ABU’L-ḤASAN, Ghaznavid sultan, reigned briefly ca. 1048-49.

  • ʿALĪ B. MOḤAMMAD

    cross-reference

    See ABU’L-QĀSEM ʿALĪ B. MOḤAMMAD.

  • ʿALĪ B. MOḤAMMAD B. ABĪ ṬĀHER

    cross-reference

    See ABŪ ṬĀHER.

  • ʿALĪ B. MOḤAMMAD B. ʿALĪ

    cross-reference

    ASTARĀBĀDĪ. See ŠARĪF JORJĀNĪ.

  • ʿALĪ B. ʿOBAYDALLĀH

    M. J. McDermott

    B. ḤASAN ḤASKĀ B. ḤOSAYN B. ḤASAN B. ḤOSAYN, Shiʿite traditionist and biographer (b. 1110-11, d. after 1189). 

  • ʿALĪ B. ʿOBAYDALLĀH ṢĀDEQ

    C. E. Bosworth

    ABU’L ḤASAN (d. ca. 1040), Ghaznavid military commander under Sultan Masʿūd I.