Table of Contents

  • ISFAHAN SCHOOL OF PHILOSOPHY

    Sajjad H. Rizvi

    term coined to describe a philosophical and mystical movement patronized by the court of Shah ʿAbbās I (r. 1588-1629), centered in the new Safavid capital of Isfahan.

  • ISFAHAN viii. QAJAR PERIOD

    Heidi Walcher

    The historical changes affecting the Isfahan of this period included loss of its status as the royal capital and its transformation into a major provincial city.

  • ISIDORUS OF CHARAX

    Rüdiger Schmitt

    author of the Stathmoì Parthikoí (in Latin Mansiones Parthicae) “Parthian Stations,” which is the only Greek text preserved at all of the genre of the itinerary or route description.

  • IŠKATA

    Rüdiger Schmitt

    in the Avesta the name of a mountain and of the land (situated in the Hindu Kush region) which is dominated by this mountain.

  • ISLAM AKHUN

    Ursula Sims-Williams

    (Eslām-āḵūn), treasure-seeker and swindler active in Khotan and neighboring areas between 1894 and 1901, best known, however, as an adept forger of manuscripts and block prints. He was eventually unmasked by Sir Aurel Stein (1862-1943) in 1901.

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  • ISLAM IN IRAN i - iv

    Multiple Authors

    The following series of articles provide an overview of some historical, contemporary, and especially political aspects of the topic that are of special interest and relevance in the world today.

  • ISLAM IN IRAN v. MESSIANIC ISLAM IN IRAN

    Abbas Amanat

    Messianism is one of the most powerful, diverse and enduring expressions of Islam in Iran throughout its long history.

  • ISLAM IN IRAN vi. THE CONCEPT OF MAHDI IN SUNNI ISLAM

    Said Amir Arjomand

    The Savior is a descendant of the Prophet whose expected return to rule the world will restore justice, peace, and true religion.

  • ISLAM IN IRAN vii. THE CONCEPT OF MAHDI IN TWELVER SHIʿISM

    Mohammad Ali Amir-Moezzi

    Mahdism in Twelver Shiʿism inherited many of its elements from previous religious trends.

  • ISLAM IN IRAN viii. THE OCCULTATION OF MAHDI

    cross-reference

    See ḠAYBA.

  • ISLAM IN IRAN ix. THE DEPUTIES OF MAHDI

    Verena Klemm

    according to Twelver Shiʿite tradition, the four intermediaries between the Hidden Imam and the faithful during his “Minor Occultation,” 874-941 CE.

  • ISLAM IN IRAN x. THE ROOTS OF POLITICAL SHIʿISMs

    Mohammad Ali Amir-Moezzi

    By “political Shiʿism” we mean here the politicization of theological and legal doctrines of Twelver Shiʿism among some thinkers, in order to make of these doctrines an ideology of legitimization of religious authority and power.

  • ISLAM IN IRAN xi. JIHAD IN ISLAM

    David Cook

    The term jihad (Ar. jehād “struggle, striving”) occurs (either in its root or derivatives) about forty times in the Qurʾān with the secondary, but dominant, meaning of “regulated warfare with divine sanction.”

  • ISLAM IN IRAN xii. MARTYRDOM IN ISLAM

    Cross-Reference

    Forthcoming online.

  • ISLAM IN IRAN xiii. ISLAMIC POLITICAL MOVEMENTS IN 20TH CENTURY IRAN

    Ahmad Ashraf

    New Islamic political movements first emerged in the Near East, the Indian Subcontinent, and Indonesia in the middle of the 19th century.

  • ISLAM IN IRAN xiv - xviii

    Cross-Reference

  • ISMAʿILISM

    Multiple Authors

    a major Shiʿite Muslim community. The Ismaʿilis have had a long and eventful history dating back to the middle of the 2nd/8th century when the Emāmi Shiʿis split into several groups.

  • ISMAʿILISM i. ISMAʿILI STUDIES

    Farhad Daftary

    In its modern and scientific form, dating to the 1930s, Ismaʿili studies represents one of the newest fields of Islamic studies.

  • ISMAʿILISM ii. ISMAʿILI HISTORIOGRAPHY

    Farhad Daftary

    The general lack of Ismaʿili interest in historiography is well attested by the fact that only a few works of historical nature have been found in the rich corpus of Ismaʿili literature.

  • ISMAʿILISM iii. ISMAʿILI HISTORY

    Farhad Daftary

    On the death of Imam Jaʿfar al-Ṣādeq in 148/765 his followers from among the Imami Shiʿites split into six groups, of which two may be identified as proto-Ismaʿilis or earliest Ismaʿilis.

  • ISMAʿILISM iv - x

    cross-reference

  • ISMAʿILISM xi. ISMAʿILI JURISPRUDENCE

    Ismail K. Poonawala

    The Ismaʿili system of jurisprudence was founded after the establishment of the Fatimid dynasty in North Africa.

  • ISMAʿILISM xii. ISMAʿILI HADITH

    Cross-Reference

    See HADITH iii.

  • ISMAʿILISM xiii. ISMAʿILI LITERATURE IN PERSIAN AND ARABIC

    Ismail K. Poonawala

    Ismaʿili literature (all the written products of scholarly disciplines delineated by learning, religion, and science) refers to the literary production of more than a millennium.

  • ISMAʿILISM xiv. ISMAʿILISM IN GINĀN LITERATURE

    Ali Sultaan Ali Asani

    Nezāri Ismaʿili texts from the Indian Subcontinent exhibit an adaptive response to the region’s complex religious, literary, and cultural environment.

  • ISMAʿILISM xv. NEZĀRI ISMAʿILI MONUMENTS

    Peter Willey

    The principal monuments of the Nezāri Ismaʿili state, which also defined and defended its boundaries, were the exceptionally well-constructed and provisioned castles.

  • ISMAʿILISM xvi. MODERN ISMAʿILI COMMUNITIES

    Azim Nanji and Zulfikar Hirji

    The Ismaʿilis consist of two main branches—the Nezāri Ismaʿilis and the Mustaʿlian Ṭayyebi Ismaʿilis. Both have their roots in the Fatimid period of Ismaʿili history.

  • ISMAʿILISM xvii. THE IMAMATE IN ISMAʿILISM

    Azim Nanji

    in common with all major Shiʿite groups, the Ismaʿilis believe that the Imamate is a divinely sanctioned and guided institution.

  • ISRAEL

    Multiple Authors

    : relations with Iran. OVERVIEW of the entry: i. Diplomatic and political relations. ii. The Jewish Persian community: forthcoming. iii. Iranian Studies in Israel: forthcoming. iv. Persian art collections in Israel: forthcoming.

  • ISRAEL i. RELATIONS WITH IRAN

    David Menashri, Trita Parsi

    The relationship between Israel and Iran has, since the very inception of the Jewish state in 1948, been a complex function of Iran’s geo-strategic imperatives as a non-Arab, non-Sunni state.

  • ISRAEL ii. JEWISH PERSIAN COMMUNITY

    David Yeroushalmi

    Jews of Persian origin and their descendants who live in the State of Israel and constitute an integral and active part of its general population.

  • ISRAEL iii. IRANIAN STUDIES

    Shaul Shaked

    A department of Iranian Studies was only formally established in Israel in 1970, but scholars working in Israel have been interested in aspects of Iranian history and culture since long before that date.

  • ISRAEL iv. PERSIAN ART COLLECTIONS

    RACHEL MILSTEIN

    Iron Age II-III is represented by a few clay rhytons, including one with human face and hands; anthropomorphic and zoomorphic vessels; tiny animals made of baked clay and frit; a metal figurative comb; an Elamite figure of a goddess; a finial of a standard portraying two lions from Luristan; and various kinds of daily objects.

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  • ISRĀʾILIYĀT

    Cross-Reference

    See QEṢAṢ AL-ANBIĀʾ.

  • ITALY

    Multiple Authors

    : relations with Iran. Overview of the entry. i. Introduction. ii. Diplomatic and commercial relations. iii. Cultural relations. iv. Travel accounts. v. Iranian Studies, pre-Islamic. vi. Excavations in Iran. vii. Iranian Studies, Islamic period. viii. Persian manuscripts. ix. Persian art collections. x. Lirica Persica. xi. Translations of Persian works into Italian. xii. Translations of Italian works into Persian. xiii. Iranians in Italy. xiv. Current centers of Iranian Studies in Italy. xv. IsMEO

  • Italy i. INTRODUCTION

    Carlo G. Cereti

    Direct relations between the Italian peninsula and the Iranian plateau date at least from the Parthian period,  when the border between the Arsacids and the Roman Empire was set on the Euphrates.

  • Italy ii. DIPLOMATIC AND COMMERCIAL RELATIONS

    Mario Casari

    A privileged relationship between Iran and Italy dates back to the age of the ancient Roman and Persian empires. Despite their ever-changing internal affairs, the two political centers of Europe and Asia, throughout the entire ancient time, experienced long lasting contacts.

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  • Italy iii. CULTURAL RELATIONS

    Mario Casari

    during the Middle Ages, when Italy and Persia were not clearly definable cultural entities, the translated works of significant Persian literature had a great influence on Italian and European culture.

  • Italy iv. TRAVEL ACCOUNTS

    Michele Bernardini, Anna Vanzan

    Italian travel accounts represent a major source for the history of Iran, especially that of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.

  • Italy v. IRANIAN STUDIES, PRE-ISLAMIC PERIOD

    Carlo G. Cereti

    Although Italian contacts with Iran date from ancient times, scientific interest in pre-Islamic Iran cannot be traced earlier than the second half of the eighteenth century.

  • Italy vi. ITALIAN EXCAVATIONS IN IRAN

    Pierfrancesco Callieri, Bruno Genito

    From the early 20th century on, Italians participated in the scholarly investigation of ancient Iran, but direct involvement in field archeology dates from relatively recent times.

  • Italy vii. IRANIAN STUDIES, ISLAMIC PERIOD

    Mario Casari

    The earliest known references to Persia by Italian writers are gleaned from numerous notes in the oldest medieval travel accounts, dating from the 13th century onwards.

  • Italy viii. PERSIAN MANUSCRIPTS

    Paola Orsatti

    Italy houses 439 Persian manuscripts in two public archives and thirty public libraries located in fifteen different cities.

  • Italy ix. PERSIAN ART COLLECTIONS

    M. V. Fontana

    ix. PERSIAN ART COLLECTIONS Since the Middle Ages, Italians have been some of the greatest collectors of Islamic art in Europe. The Islamic market that Italy drew on was very large, and some of the most opulent works were imported from Persia.

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  • Italy x. LIRICA PERSICA

    Daniela Meneghini

    a project set up in 1989 by the School of Persian Literary Studies at Venice University to create a database for Persian lyric verse.

  • Italy xi. TRANSLATIONS OF PERSIAN WORKS INTO ITALIAN

    Mario Casari

    The period of Italian translations of Persian literary works from the Islamic era began, and not by accident, in the post-Risorgimento (Italian unification) age (1880s) with epic poetry. 

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  • Italy xii. TRANSLATIONS OF ITALIAN WORKS INTO PERSIAN

    MARIO CASARI

    Two texts by Italian authors appear to be the first known translations of European literary works into Persian carried out in the modern age.

  • Italy xiii. IRANIANS IN ITALY

    Mario Casari

    The presence of Persians in Italy has always been fragmentary and discontinuous, which never led to any extended, cohesive social groups of permanent residents.

  • Italy xiv. CURRENT CENTERS OF IRANIAN STUDIES IN ITALY

    Carlo G. Cereti

    Studies on subjects related to the Iranian cultural world can boast an ancient tradition in Italy, but not as an independent field of study at academic level. Things have considerably changed in recent times.

  • Italy xv. IsMEO

    Antonio Panaino

    acronym for the Istituto Italiano per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente (‘Italian Institute for Middle and Far East’), founded in 1933.