Table of Contents

  • AMA

    M. Boyce

    a minor Zoroastrian divinity, the hypostasis of strength, who appears in the Avestan hymn to Vərəθraγna (Yt. 14).

  • AʿMĀ

    I. Abbas

    7th-8th century poet from Azerbaijan who wrote in Arabic.

  • AMAHRASPAND

    Cross-Reference

    See AMƎŠA SPƎNTA.

  • AMAL AL-ĀMEL

    J. van Ess

    biographical dictionary of Shiʿite (Etnāʿašarī) scholars originating from the Jabal ʿĀmel in south Lebanon, composed by Moḥammad b. Ḥasan b. ʿAlī Mašḡarī, known as Ḥorr-e ʿĀmelī (1033-1104/1624-1693).

  • ʿAMALA

    P. Oberling

    (literally: workers, retainers), the retinue of a tribal chief, and the name of a number of tribes.

  • AMĀMA

    Abu’l-Qāsem Tafażżolī

    (also ʿAmāma), a village in the Lavāsān district at a distance of 39 km north of Tehran, located in a mountainous area 2,230 m above sea level.

  • ʿAMĀMA

    H. Algar

    (or ʿAMMĀMA, Arabic ʿEMĀMA), the turban. Imbued with symbolic significance, the turban was once the almost universal headgear of adult male Muslims. 

  • AMĀN-E AFḠĀN

    I. V. Pourhadi

    newspaper of Afghanistan during the reign of King Amānallāh (1337-48/1919-29). 

  • AMĀNALLĀH

    L. B. Poullada

    (1892-1961), ruler of Afghanistan (1919-29), first with the title of amir and from 1926 on with that of shah.  

  • AMĀNAT

    M. Baqir

    12th/18th century poet in Persian who imitated the style of his teacher, Mīrzā ʿAbd-al-Qāder Bīdel.

  • AMĀNAT KHAN ŠĪRĀZĪ

    W. E. Begley

    When Shah Jahān’s wife Momtāz Maḥall died in childbirth (17 Ḏu’l-qaʿda 1040/17 June 1631), ʿAbd-al-Ḥaqq was appointed to select the Koranic passages and design the calligraphy for her tomb. One year later, the emperor honored him with the title Amānat Khan and promoted him to the manṣab rank of 900.

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  • AMĀNI

    Fabrizio Speziale

    pen name of Amān-Allāh Khan, Ḵān-e Zamān, an Indo-Muslim physician and author of works on medicine (d. 1637).

  • ʿAMʿAQ BOḴARĀʾĪ

    J. Matīnī

    Having attained a degree of literary prowess in his home of Bokhara he went to the Qarakhanid court in Samarkand in 460/1068.

  • ĀMĀR

    Cross-Reference

    See DEMOGRAPHY.

  • AMAR NĀTH

    B. Ahmad

    Persian writer and poet of the Punjab under the Sikhs (1822-67).

  • ʿAMĀRA MARVAZĪ

    J. Matīnī

    Persian poet of the late Samanid/early Ghaznavid periods.

  • AMARANTH

    Cross-Reference

    See BOSTĀNAFRŪZ.

  • ĀMĀRGAR

    D. N. MacKenzie, M. L. Chaumont

    a Middle and New Persian word designating a person holding a particular administrative post.

  • AʿMAŠ, ABŪ MOḤAMMAD

    E. Kohlberg

    SOLAYMĀN B. MEḤRĀN ASADĪ (in some sources, erroneously, Azdī) KĀHELĪ KŪFĪ, 1st-2nd/7th-8th century Shiʿite scholar, traditionist, and Koran reader.

  • AMASYA, PEACE OF

    M. Köhbach

    (8 Raǰab 962/29 May 1555), treaty signed between Iran and the Ottomans and observed for some twenty years.

  • AMATUNI

    C. Toumanoff

    Armenian dynastic house, known historically after the 4th century CE.

  • AMAZONS

    A. Sh. Shahbazi

    designation of a fabulous race of female warriors in Greek beliefs, writings, and art, fancifully explained as a-mazos (breastless or full-breasted).

  • AMAZONS IN THE IRANIAN WORLD

    Adrienne Mayor

    Women warriors who gloried in fighting, hunting, and exercised sexual freedom in Persian literature and Iranian history and culture.

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  • ĀMED

    Cross-Reference

    See AMIDA.

  • ĀMEDĪ

    E. Kohlberg

    6th/12th century traditionist.

  • ʿĀMEL

    C. E. Bosworth

    the holder of an administrative office in the pre-modern Islamic world.

  • ʿĀMELĪ EṢFAHĀNĪ

    Cross-Reference

    See AḤMAD ʿALAWĪ.

  • ʿĀMELĪ EṢFAHĀNĪ, ABU’L-ḤASAN

    H. Corbin

    Shiʿite theologian and author (d. Najaf, 1138/1726). 

  • ʿĀMELĪ, ʿABD-AL-MONʿEM

    Cross-Reference

    See ʿABD-AL-MONʿEM ʿĀMELĪ.

  • ʿĀMELĪ, BAHĀʾ-AL-DĪN

    Cross-Reference

    See BAHĀʾ-AL-DĪN ʿĀMELĪ.

  • AMƎRƎTĀT

    Cross-Reference

    See AMURDĀD.

  • ʿĀMERĪ NĪŠĀPŪRĪ

    H. Corbin

    (d. 381/992), important philosopher from Khorasan between Fārābī and Avicenna. 

  • AMƎŠA SPƎNTA

    M. Boyce

    an Avestan term for beneficent divinity, meaning literally “Holy/Bounteous Immortal” (Pahl. Amešāspand, [A]mahraspand).

  • AMESTRIS

    R. Schmitt

    no. 4. Niece of of Darius III, d. ca. 280 BCE. She was married to the Macedonian general Craterus, then to the tyrant Dionysius in Bithynia, and to Lysimachus, king of Thrace, before ruling alone in Paphlagonia.

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  • ʿAMĪD, ABŪ ʿABDALLĀH

    C. E. Bosworth

    known as Kolah (said to be an opprobrious term), secretary and official in northern Persia and Transoxania during the 4th/10th century.

  • ʿAMĪD-AL-DĪN ASʿAD

    Cross-Reference

    See ABZARĪ.

  • ʿAMĪD-AL-DĪN SANĀMĪ

    M. U. Memon

    Persian poet of India, panegyrist of Nāṣer-al-dīn Maḥmūd (r. 644-64/1246-66) and perhaps of Ḡīāṯ-al-dīn Balban (7th/13th century).

  • ʿAMĪD-AL-MOLK

    Cross-Reference

    See ABŪ BAKR QOHESTĀNĪ.

  • ʿAMĪD-AL-MOLK ABŪ ḠĀNEM

    Cross-Reference

    See ABZARĪ.

  • AMIDA

    D. Sellwood and EIr

    Pers. Āmed (modern Dīārbakr), town situated on a plateau dominating the west bank of the upper Tigris.

  • AMĪN AḤMAD RĀZĪ

    M. U. Memon

    better known as AMĪN RĀZĪ, 10th-11th/16th-17th century author of the Haft eqlīm, a famous geographical and biographical encyclopedia.

  • AMĪN BALYĀNĪ

    Cross-Reference

    See BALYĀNĪ, AMĪN-AL-DĪN.

  • AMĪN ḤAŻRAT

    J. Calmard

    eldest son of Āqā Ebrāhīm Amīn-al-solṭān who succeeded his father as Head of the royal pantry (ābdār-bašī), which allowed him to accompany Nāṣer-al-dīn Shah in all his travels in Iran and abroad.

  • AMĪN ḤOŻŪR

    J. Calmard

    (Trustee in Presence), an official title under Nāṣer-al-dīn Shah whose successive administrative reorganizations after 1858 led to a multiplication of offices, particularly in the royal household.

  • AMĪN ḴALWAT

    F. Gaffary

    (Trustee of the Shah’s private household or court), an office and title in the late Qajar period held by members of the Ḡaffārī family.

  • AMĪN LAŠKAR

    J. Calmard

    (Trustee of the Army), Qajar title held by Mīrzā ʿEnāyatallāh and Mīrzā Qahramān under Nāṣer-al-dīn Shah.

  • AMĪN LAŠKAR, MĪRZĀ QAHRAMĀN

    A. Amanat

    (1244-1310/1828-92), a middle rank Qajar official during the rule of Nāṣer-al-dīn Shah.

  • AMĪN, ḤĀJJĪ

    M. Momen

    name given successively to two Bahaʾis who were trustees of the Bahaʾi system of religious taxation, the Ḥoqūq Allāh.

  • AMĪN-AL-DAWLA, ʿABDALLĀH KHAN

    A. Amanat

    ṢADR EṢFAHĀNĪ (1779-1847), chief revenue accountant and later prime minister under Fatḥ-ʿAlī Shah (1797-1834).

  • AMĪN-AL-DAWLA, ʿALĪ EBRĀHĪM KHAN

    Cross-Reference

    See ʿALĪ EBRĀHĪM KHAN.

  • AMĪN-AL-DAWLA, FARROḴ KHAN ḠAFFĀRĪ

    F. Gaffary

    (1227-88/1812-71), a high ranking Qajar official.

  • AMĪN-AL-DAWLA, MĪRZĀ ʿALĪ KHAN

    H. F. Farmayan

    (1844-1904), high ranking official in the service of the Qajar king Nāṣer-al-dīn Shah (r. 1848-96) and grand vizier under Moẓaffar-al-dīn Shah (r. 1896-1907).

  • AMĪN-AL-DAWLA, MOḤAMMAD-ḤOSAYN KHAN

    Cross-Reference

    See MOḤAMMAD-ḤOSAYN KHAN (forthcoming).

  • AMĪN-AL-DAWLA, MOḤAMMAD-ṢĀDEQ KHAN

    Cross-Reference

    See MOḤAMMAD-ṢĀDEQ KHAN MOSTAWFĪ (forthcoming).

  • AMĪN-AL-DAWLA, MOḤSEN KHAN

    Cross-Reference

    MOʿĪN-AL-MOLK. See MOḤSEN KHAN.

  • AMĪN-AL-MOLK

    Cross-Reference

    See PĀŠĀ KHAN.

  • AMĪN-AL-MOLK, MĪRZĀ ESMĀʿĪL

    A. Amanat

    (1867-98), a high-ranking official towards the end of Nāṣer-al-dīn Shah’s reign.

  • AMĪN-AL-SOLṬĀN, ʿALĪ-AṢḠAR KHAN

    Cross-Reference

    See ATĀBAK-E AʿẒAM.

  • AMĪN-AL-SOLṬĀN, ĀQĀ EBRĀHĪM

    A. Amanat

    (d. 1300/1882-83), influential court minister of Nāṣer-al-dīn Shah and father of ʿAlī-Aṣḡar Khan Amīn-al-solṭān.

  • AMĪN-AL-ŻARB, ḤĀJJ MOḤAMMAD-ḤASAN

    A. Enayat

    (AMĪN-AL-ŻARB), custodian of the state mint under Nāṣer-al-dīn Shah, regarded as the most successful Iranian entrepreneur of his time (1253-1316/1837-98).

  • AMĪN-AL-ŻARB, ḤAJJ MOḤAMMAD-ḤOSAYN

    A. Enayat

    (1289-1351/1872-1932), Persian businessman and vice-president of the first Maǰles. 

  • AMĪN-E ELĀHĪ

    Cross-Reference

    See ARDAKĀNĪ, ABU’L-ḤASAN.

  • AMĪN-E ŠŪRĀ

    Cross-Reference

    See PĀŠĀ KHAN.

  • AMĪNĀ

    A. Netzer

    pen name of BENYĀMĪN B. MĪŠĀʾĪL KĀŠĀNĪ, an outstanding Jewish poet of Iran.

  • AMĪNA AQDAS

    G. Nashat

    or AMĪN-E AQDAS (d. 1311/1893), one of Nāṣer-al-dīn Shah’s most powerful wives.  

  • AMĪNĀ QAZVĪNĪ

    Hameed ud-Din

    also known as MĪRZĀ AMĪNA or AMĪNA-YE MONŠĪ, Mughal historian and poet of Shah Jahān’s reign.

  • AMĪNĪ, SHAIKH ʿABD-AL-ḤOSAYN

    H. Algar

    also known as ʿAllāma-ye Amīnī (1320-90/1902-70), Shiʿite scholar and author of the encyclopedic al-Ḡadīr fi’l-ketāb wa’l-sonna wa’l-adab.

  • AMĪNJĪ

    I. Poonawala

    eminent Ṭayyebī Ismaʿili jurist from Ahmadabad in India (d. 1567).

  • AMĪR

    C. E. Bosworth

    “commander, governor, prince” in Arabic. The term seems to be basically Islamic; although it does not occur in the Koran, we do find there the related concept of the “holders of authority.”

  • AMĪR ARSALĀN

    W. L. Hanaway, Jr.

    a prose romance of the genre dāstānhā-ye ʿammīāna, “popular tales,” composed by Mīrzā Moḥammad ʿAlī Naqīb-al-mamālek, the chief storyteller of Nāṣer-al-dīn Shah (r. 1848-96).

  • AMĪR AṢLĀN KHAN

    Cross-Reference

    See MAJD-AL-DAWLA.

  • AMĪR BAHĀDOR, ḤOSAYN PĀŠĀ KHAN

    Cross-Reference

    See BAHĀDOR JANG, AMIR.

  • AMĪR ḤARAS

    C. E. Bosworth

    (AMĪR-E ḤARAS) “commander of the guard,” the official at the court of the ʿAbbasid caliphs and at certain of its provincial successor states who was directly responsible for policing the palace and for carrying out the caliph’s wishes.

  • AMĪR ḤASAN DEHLAVĪ

    Cross-Reference

    See INDIA xiv. Persian Literature in India.

  • AMIR KABIR PUBLISHERS

    EIr

    Major Persian publishing house active from 1949 to 1979.

  • AMĪR KABĪR, MĪRZĀ TAQĪ KHAN

    H. Algar

    (1222-68/1807-52),  also known by the titles of Atābak and Amīr-e Neẓām; chief minister to Nāṣer-al-dīn Shah for the first four years of his reign and one of the most capable and innovative figures to appear in the whole Qajar period.

  • AMĪR ḴORD

    K. A. Nizami

    Indo-Muslim author of the Sīar al-awlīāʾ  (8th/14th century).

  • AMĪR ḴOSROW DEHLAVĪ

    A. Schimmel

    (651-725/1253-1325), the “Parrot of India,” the greatest Persian-writing poet of medieval India.

  • AMĪR LAŠKAR

    J. Calmard

    (AMĪR-E LAŠKAR) military rank equivalent to general granted during Reżā Khan’s rise to power.

  • AMĪR MOFAḴḴAM BAḴTĪĀRĪ

    Cross-Reference

    See BAḴTĪĀRĪ.

  • AMĪR MOḤAMMAD AFŻAL KHAN

    Cross-Reference

    See AFŻAL KHAN.

  • AMĪR NEẒĀM

    A. Amanat

    (AMĪR-E NEẒĀM), the holder of the military and administrative office of emārat-e neẓām in the Qajar period.

  • AMĪR NEẒĀM GARRŪSĪ

    A. Amanat

    known also as Sālār-e Laškar (1236-1317/1820-1900), officer, diplomat, statesman, and literary figure of the Qajar period. 

  • AMĪR NEẒĀM, MOḤAMMAD-RAḤĪM KHAN

    Cross-reference

    (d. 1299/1882), notable of the Qajar tribe and holder of high offices under Nāṣer-al-dīn Shah. See ʿALĀʾ-DAWLA.

  • AMĪR PĀDEŠĀH

    Cross-Reference

    See MOḤAMMAD AMĪR B. MAḤMŪD.

  • AMIR PĀZVĀRI

    Habib Borjian and Maryam Borjian

    semi-legendary poet of Māzandarān.

  • AMĪR ŠAHĪD

    Cross-Reference

    (AMĪR-E ŠAHĪD). See ABŪ NAṢR AḤMAD.

  • AMĪR SAYYED ʿALĪ

    Cross-Reference

    See ʿALĪ AL-AʿLĀ.

  • AMĪR TŪMĀN

    J. Calmard

    (AMĪR-E TŪMĀN) commander of 10,000 men, a military rank originally used by the Il-khanids in the 7th/13th century.

  • AMĪR-AL-MOʾMENĪN

    Cross-Reference

    See ʿALĪ B. ABĪ ṬĀLEB.

  • AMĪR-AL-OMARĀʾ

    C. E. Bosworth, R. M. Savory

    literally, “commander of commanders,” hence “supreme commander,” a military title found from the early 4th/10th century onwards, first in Iraq and then in the Iranian lands.

  • AMIR-AʿLAM

    Bāqer ʿĀqeli

    (1861-1961), University professor, representative and deputy speaker of the Majles, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, senator, minister, and responsible for passing of the Health Protection and Smallpox Vaccination Act of 1910 and the Medical Practice Act of 1911.

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  • AMIR-ṬAHMĀSEBI, ʿAbd-Allāh

    Bāqer ʿĀqeli

    Amir-Ṭahmāsebi disarmed the tribes in Azerbaijan and restored security particularly in areas around Ardebil, Ahar and Mešgin-šahr, where the Šāhsavan tribes had exercised their arbitrary and oppressive rule unchecked for years.

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  • AMĪRAK BALʿAMĪ

    Dj. Khaleghi-Motlagh

    name given to ABŪ ʿALĪ MOḤAMMAD, vizier of the Samanids.

  • AMĪRAK BAYHAQĪ

    C. E. Bosworth

    (d. 448/1056), intelligence officer in Khorasan under the early Ghaznavids.

  • AMĪRAK ṬŪSĪ

    Dj. Khaleghi-Motlagh

    4th/10th century notable of the ʿAbd-al-Razzāqī family of Ṭūs.

  • AMIRDOVLATʿ AMASIATSʿI

    Avedis K. Sanjian

    (b. Amasya ca. 1420/25; d. Bursa, 1496), Armenian physician at the Ottoman court and author of Angitats Anpet, an encyclopedic polyglot in six languages including Persian.

  • AMIRI, YUSOF

    ANDRÁS BODROGLIGETI

    Persian-Chaghatay poet of the first half of the 15th century. 

  • AMĪRḴĪZĪ, ESMĀʿĪL

    Ī. Afshar

    Iranian man of letters, poet, and political activist, born in the Amīrḵīz quarter of Tabrīz in December 1877.

  • AMITĀYUS

    R. E. Emmerick

    Sanskrit name of one of the transcendental Buddhas, the so-called Dhyāni-Buddhas, of later Buddhism.