Table of Contents

• BALADĪYA

  N. Parvīn

  (Municipality), the name or part of the name of several newspapers and journals published in Iran and Afghanistan ca. 1907-39.

• BALĀḎORĪ

  C. E. Bosworth

  , ABU’L-ḤASAN or ABŪ BAKR AḤMAD B. YAḤYĀ B. JĀBER, leading Arab historian of the 9th century, whose Ketāb fotūḥ al-boldān, in particular, contains much original information on the Arab conquests of Iran.

• BALĀḠAT

  J. T. P. de Bruijn

  (Ar. balāḡa), one of the most general terms to denote eloquence in speech and writing. The branches of literary criticism which developed within Muslim civilization became known collectively as the science (ʿelm) or art (ṣenāʿa) of balāḡat.

• BALĀḠĪ, MOḤAMMAD-JAWĀD

  E. Kohlberg

  B. ḤASAN B. ṬĀLEB B. ʿABBĀS RABAʿĪ NAJAFĪ (d. 1933), Imami author, poet, and polemicist.

• BALʿAMĪ, ABŪ ʿALĪ MOḤAMMAD

  cross-reference

  B. MOḤAMMAD. See AMĪRAK BALʿAMĪ.

• BALʿAMĪ, ABU’L-FAŻL MOḤAMMAD

  C. E. Bosworth

  B. ʿOBAYD-ALLĀH B. MOḤAMMAD BALʿAMĪ TAMĪMĪ, vizier to the Samanid amir Naṣr b. Aḥmad (r. 913-42), father of the vizier and historian Amirak Baḷʿamī.

• BĀLANG

  W. Eilers

  citron, the fruit of a species of citrus tree (Citrus medica cedrata). This article discusses the history of the word.

• BALĀŠ

  M. L. Chaumont, K. Schippmann

  the name of a number of kings and several dignitaries and notables during the Parthian and Sasanian periods. The Parthian form of the name, the oldest, is Walagaš. In Middle Persian it is Wardāxš, in Pahlavi Walāxš.

• BALĀSAGĀN

  M. L. Chaumont, C. E. Bosworth

   “country of the Balās,” designating a region located for the most part south of the lower course of the rivers Kor (Kura) and the Aras (Araxes), bordered on the south by Atropatene and on the east by the Caspian Sea.  i. In pre-Islamic times.  ii. In Islamic times.

• BALĀSĀḠŪN

  C. E. Bosworth

  a town of Central Asia, in early Islamic times the main settlement of the region known as Yeti-su or Semirechye “the land of the seven rivers,” now mainly within the eastern part of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

• BALĀSĀNĪ, MAJD-AL-MOLK ABU’L-FAŻL ASʿAD

  C. E. Bosworth

  B. MOḤAMMAD QOMĪ (d. 1099), mostawfī or financial intendant to the Saljuq sultan Berk-yaruq (Barkīāroq) b. Malekšāh and then vizier.

• BĀLĀSARĪ

  D. M. MacEoin

  term used by the Shaikhis to distinguish ordinary Shiʿites from members of their own sect. The history of conflicts between the Shaikhi and Shiʿite communities is reviewed.

• BĀLAVĪ

  cross-reference

  See BĀLAWĪ FAMILY.

• BALAWASTE

  G. Gropp

  a ruin site in the eastern part of the Khotan oasis, near the village of Domoko. Fragments of manuscripts, pottery, and plaster were found at this site by Sir Mark Aurel Stein on his first and second expeditions in 1900.

• BĀLAWĪ FAMILY

  R. W. Bulliet

  prominent scholars in Nīšāpūr in the 10th-11th centuries.

• BALDARČĪN

  cross-reference

  See BELDERČĪN.

• BĀLEḠ

  S. H. Amin

  Ar. “of full age, adult, mature,” in contrast to the term ṣaḡīr (minor): coming of age in Islamic law.

• BALḴ

  X. de Planhol, C. E. Bosworth, V. Fourniau, D. Balland, F. Grenet

  city and province in northern Afghanistan. i. Geography. ii. From the Arab conquest to the Mongols. iii. From the Mongols to modern times. iv. Modern town. v. Modern province. vi. Monuments.

  This Article Has Images/Tables.

• BALḴĀB

  D. Balland

  (Bactros of the classical authors), the river of Balḵ. This perennial river is a major feature of the geography of northern Afghanistan.

• BALḴĪ, ABŪ ʿALĪ ABD-ALLĀH

  H. Schützinger

  B. MOḤAMMAD B. ʿALĪ (d. 907-08), a traditionist (moḥaddeṯ) and author.